WIRX “Decoding Carnivale” Call-in with Clancy Brown • 11-24-03

This is the transcript from Clancy’s radio call-in segment on Southwest Michigan’s WIRX/Rock 107.1, with John Jay and Brother Phil.

(John Jay & Brother Phil were off due to a death in the family. Our condolences go out to them both. D.J., Shelley Morgan, filled in most capably, instead.)

Shelley: Rock 107/WIRX! 8:09 and a lovely 28 degrees, with a couple of flurries here and there. That’s what we’re lookin’ for today – flurries and a high around 28. And … Guess who’s on the phone?!? Mr. Clancy Brown!

Clancy: Yo!

Shelley: Hey!

Clancy: Yo!

Shelley: How are you?

Clancy: I’mmmm… gettin’ there!

Shelley: Yeah?

Clancy: Yes, sirree!

Shelley: Excellent! Clancy, of course, the star of “Carnivale” on HBO. And you were all over the television this weekend!

Clancy: Yes, I was, wasn’t I?

Shelley: I know! I… I couldn’t turn the channel without seeing you! Cuz “Shawshank” was on, which is on like every fifteen minutes, anyway…

Clancy: Right.

Shelley: But “Highlander” was on yesterday!

Clancy: “Highlander” was on… I was back visiting my folks, and THAT’S the one they chose to watch!

Shelley: Oh! (laughing)

Clancy: Young Clancy…It was a little much for me to take!

Shelley: With the long hair, until the end.

Clancy: (laughing)

Shelley: I’m kinda going, like, WOW! I kinda like the long black hair!

Clancy: (evil) Yeah…

Shelley: But there’s another look that I liked, too, in “Earth 2”…

Clancy: Ah… The long curly hair.

Shelley: The long curly hair! The Chris O’Donnell, D’Artagnan from “Three Musketeers” hair!

Clancy: (Laughing hard) There ya go! Well done!

Shelley: Thank you very much! (giggling)

Clancy: That was a fall for Chris, though… That was a wig. Mine was real!

Shelley: Oh, even better! So… The hair on “Carnivale” definitely real, your own?

Clancy: Oh, yeah…

Shelley: Yeah, so… Okay. I had to sit and write notes – which I don’t do when I watch television…

Clancy: (chuckling)

Shelley: Cuz I’m there to enjoy it. And I DID enjoy it last night, but there were things that were happening on “Carnivale” last night, on HBO, from the opening scene of Ben having a dream with Brother Justin in the church… Is this the first time you guys have had…? It’s definitely… (conspiratorially) It’s the first time you’ve touched, isn’t it?

Clancy: Well, yeah, uh… Yeah, it is.

Shelley: (laughing)

Clancy: It’s the first time we’ve touched in the dream plain.

Shelley: Mm-hmm. That was kinda interesting.

Clancy: (chuckling) Well, yes! Going in there and breaking up the sacrament! What was that about, Ben?

Shelley: Hey! There were razor blades!

Clancy: Well, in HIS mind there were razor blades! But, obviously, in everybody else’s, they were okay.

Shelley: Okay…

Clancy: It was HIS dream…

Shelley: That’s very true.

Clancy: Attribution’s very important.

Shelley: Mm-hmm…

Clancy: But we didn’t see that Brother Justin had that dream…

Shelley: No, that’s true. We don’t… Brother Justin’s dreams – I don’t know if I really wanna see a whole bunch of HIS dreams!

Clancy: (laughing) Well, I’m sure they’re very tame…

Shelley: Oh, I’m sure they are, compared to Hawkins! Yeah, yeah!

Clancy: (evil laugh)

Shelley: And so we had Sophie and Libby gettin’ drunk…

Clancy: Yeah, that was, uh… That one turned me around!

Shelley: Oh, um… yeah! I thought you were gonna… I wasn’t sure “around” was gonna come after “turned,” to tell you the truth!

Clancy: (laughing) I couldn’t quite figure that one out!

Shelley: Yeah!

Clancy: I mean, some of it made sense, but then the stigmata!

Shelley: That’s exactly… I wrote “stigmata” down! There’s some lesbian action going there, and then the stigmata, then the blood comes out of Sophie’s hand, and you’re going, “Huh?”

Clancy: That was wild, yeah! What was… I didn’t know what that one was. But I trust that it will be explained to us, if not in this season, then in forthcoming seasons – if, in fact, there ARE any.

Shelley: Oh! I thought you were gonna tell me… Oh!

Clancy: I wish!

Shelley: It’s making me crazy! Cuz if it’s done, I… uh… I mean, I understand that, but…

Clancy: Well, somebody did notice that -- and I saw this on the internet – somebody did notice that, in the previews, it said SEASON finale and not series finale or just finale, so…

Shelley: That’s true! That’s true, it does say…

Clancy: So maybe that’s a clue.

Shelley: Fingers crossed.

Clancy: There’s clues everywhere…

Shelley: So, um, just… I wanna kind of run through a couple other big deals that happened last night.

Clancy: Go for it!

Shelley: Hawkins goes to the church, and he goes into the confessional, and he turns out to be confessing to Scudder – who’s not there!

Clancy: Yeah, he just has no luck with sacraments, does he?

Shelley: I know, he doesn’t!

Clancy: (laughing)

Shelley: He’s trying to be all good and all holy… And then he tries to heal Ruthie, and it’s gone!

Clancy: Yup! Yeah, what’s that for? I don’t know!

Shelley: Well, ya know what he did with her, right?

Clancy: Yeah, maybe that’s it. Maybe that’s why…

Shelley: It’s like Samson and Delilah.

Clancy: Yes, exactly. She’s immune to his powers maybe, now, because they… They made the beast with two backs!

Shelley: (laughing) Yes, they did…

Clancy: That’s what I would conclude. However, I don’t think that’s actually the case.

Shelley: No, probably not.

Clancy: No. And, of course, we’ll find out why he was suddenly arrested mid-miracle next week.

Shelley: He was arrested mid-miracle?!? Did I see that?!?

Clancy: No, I said that.

(pause)

Shelley: Okay…anyway. I’m lost for a second, but it’s “Carnivale,” so of course I’m lost!

Clancy: (laughing)

Shelley: The, big… the BIG thing that happened… Iris confessing!

Clancy: Iris cops!

Shelley: Iris confessing to Brother Justin.

Clancy: Iris cops to arson…

Shelley: Wow! WOW! So she’s standin’ there…

Clancy: Yeah… C’mon, didn’t you see that one comin’?

Shelley: NO! Swear to God!

Clancy: You didn’t see that one comin’?

Shelley: I really didn’t! I really didn’t… And not even… See? I was so busy writing notes that I wasn’t really paying attention.

Clancy: Ah…

Shelley: So, what happens is there’s a non-filed police report that Brother Justin’s car was at the church…

Clancy: Yeah…

Shelley: A couple of hours before it was torched, and all the little kids died.

Clancy: Yes!

Shelley: And then, ya know…

Clancy: So you thought that maybe it was Brother Justin that did it?

Shelley: Well, I just thought Brother Justin’s… his reasoning that there are a million black Fords out there, which there were, cuz it’s the thirties and all the cars looked the same…

Clancy: Exactly!

Shelley: Who knew?

Clancy: Who knew? Well, no one except…

Shelley: Iris!

Clancy: Except Iris, and she comes and blurts it out! See? Ya know, ya just gotta keep your mouth shut, and ya just gotta be cool. Though she made a good point… She’s sayin’, ya know, it doesn’t matter whether it’s true! As soon as it’s out there, then you’re discredited.

Shelley: Mm-hmm.

Clancy: So that was… I thought that was a pretty good and modern point to make about the media.

Shelley: But the other thing… Well, yeah, thank you very much. But the other thing is that, if you have this secret inside of you, Brother Justin’s gonna know it anyway.

Clancy: Right!

Shelley: So you might as well just cop to it.

Clancy: Unless he avoids searching his sister’s soul… which is completely possible.

Shelley: He searched somethin’ else last night, of his sister!

Clancy: (laughing) Yeah!

Shelley: Wow!

Clancy: And didn’t ya see THAT comin’?

Shelley: No! And you and I were talkin’ about this earlier… Ya know, just before we went on the air. No! No, I SO did not see that coming!

Clancy: What do YOU think happened after… Ya know, when we cut away to the carnivale, after Brother Justin started looming over his sister?

Shelley: What do I THINK happened?

Clancy: Yeah.

Shelley: I don’t know!

Clancy: What would be your guess?

Shelley: I would hope that it’s not what… Ya know, the deep and scary thoughts in my mind!

Clancy: Well, ya know, see now, you HAVE those deep and scary thoughts!

Shelley: Well, yeah!

Clancy: I see…

Shelley: (laughing)

Clancy: Okay, so you have those deep and scary thoughts…

Shelley: Exactly! Ya know, I wouldn’t THINK that he would sweep her off her feet and carry her…

Clancy: I will say that when we shot it, there was no movement in that direction. However, CLEARLY what was intended was to force the question and let the audience fill in the blank, whether he, uh…

Shelley: Whether they… Whether they have been… together.

Clancy: Whether they got, you know…

Shelley: In an intimate way…

Clancy: Whether bloodlust developed into just normal, everyday, incestuous lust.

Shelley: Oh, wow!

Clancy: But, you know…

Shelley: Ya know, it’s entirely possible. It’s not like we haven’t seen that on TV before.

Clancy: Indeed! And for my purposes, I sure hope they DIDN’T, because ya know, it’s so much more interesting to be motivated by forbidden love than by, ya know, some kind of guilt! (laughing)

Shelley: Okay.

Clancy: (laughing)

Shelley: And Brother Justin’s a good-looking guy!

Clancy: Oh, you think? (Goofy “aw-shucks” voice) Aw, sweetie! You can call me every day!

Shelley: (laughing) And especially in the cassock thing…

Clancy: Yeah!

Shelley: Ya know, with the big, long, black robe… That was a good look!

Clancy: Hoo-ah!

Shelley: Yeah, so anyway… You would think that, if he really wanted… SOMEBODY, he could GET somebody! Even with the religious fervor that’s in him.

Clancy: Right. But he’s a man of God. And he’s a serious man of God. He’s not just a man of God to get tail!

Shelley: (laughing)

Clancy: Ya know, he’s…

Shelley: He’s no Jim Baker!

Clancy: That’s right! He’s sincere… to a point.

(Shelley & Clancy laughing)

Shelley: Alrighty! So… Are you gonna let us in on what’s gonna happen next week?

Clancy: Well, all I can tell ya, really, is that this whole sort of, uh… orgasm of exposition that’s happened in the last few episodes…

Shelley: Hello! Wow… (laughing)

Clancy: This sort of…

Shelley: It’s going to continue?

Clancy: Yeah, you know, a lot of things have been explained in the last, I’d say, four episodes, or five episodes…

Shelley: Mm-hmm…

Clancy: And even though people still don’t know EXACTLY what’s going on… You’re not gonna know exactly what’s going on, otherwise why would we even entertain doing another season?

Shelley: Exactly! Why would you watch?

Clancy: But it’s, uh… It’s a heavy close, let me tell ya. You have a lot going on in the final episode.

Shelley: And it’s only an hour long?

Clancy: Yeah.

Shelley: Oh…

Clancy: And, ya know, Ben sorta gets his act together, and Justin gets his act together, and… If this whole thing has been preparation to get to the starting line, then they’re bending down to wait for the gun.

Shelley: To wait for the gun… Sweet!

Clancy: Yeah! So, that’s sorta how it’s gonna conclude. So we’ll… Ya know, I can’t tell ya TOO much, because if I tell ya ANYTHING… I mean, it’s so chock full next week…

Shelley: Well, yeah, exactly!

Clancy: If I tell ya anything, then it’s gonna spoil it a little bit. But I will tell ya that they don’t meet. How ‘bout that? (chuckling)

Shelley: Okay, I’ll take that little bit of juicy information!

Clancy: All right? I’ll tell ya what DOESN’T happen… And I will tell ya that not everybody makes it into the next season.

Shelley: OH, NO!!!

Clancy: Doesn’t that suck?

Shelley: Well, um… Yeah! Basically.

Clancy: Yeah… But, ya know, but I don’t even know who makes it into the next season!

Shelley: Well no, cuz they’re not gonna tell you cuz you’d tell us!

Clancy: Yeah, right… Cuz I have a big mouth!

Shelley: (laughing) No you don’t…

Clancy: But that’s sort of typical television… I mean, yeah, you put a bunch of characters, a bunch of favorite characters, at risk in the cliffhanger ending. So, a bunch of characters ARE at risk in the cliffhanger ending! And so you’ll have to tune in next season, IF THERE’S A NEXT SEASON!

Shelley: WHEN there’s a next season!

Clancy: God… WHEN there’s a next season…

Shelley: But you know what it’ll be, cuz HBO does it like that, it’ll be two and a half years before we see more “Carnivale”!

Clancy: I know! I’ve actually heard… Well, everybody’s sentiment is that there will be one, but they’re just kind of not announcing it til they’re good and ready… But then, you know, if we do a next season, then we wouldn’t start until next year, probably, shootin’ it. So… it wouldn’t be until next fall, at the earliest, you’d start seeing more shows.

Shelley: Oh, that makes me crazy!

Clancy: Oh, me too!!! It’s infuriating!

Shelley: Mm-hmm!

Clancy: So you’ll have to satisfy yourself with reruns.

Shelley: Okay, I’ll make sure I do that. (laughing)

Clancy: Yes… (laughing)

Shelley: Um, one thing about the show last night that was really uncomfortable…

Clancy: Yes?

Shelley: Um… nothing like being hit on by the Bearded Lady!

Clancy: OH-ho-ho!!! (Laughing) “You get tired of Grandma, you come see ME!” Yeesh, I don’t THINK so!

Shelley: I don’t think so…

Clancy: (long evil laugh)

Shelley: I don’t think so!

Clancy: That was another one, yeah. “How is she? Grateful, I expect…” (laughing hard)

Shelley: Yeah, I wouldn’t think so, cuz she’s with Lodz, for cryin’ out loud! A little bit of hot young tail might be a good thing for her!

Clancy: They have an “open” relationship…

Shelley: Ew!

Clancy: Ew, is right! Yikes, hit on by the Bearded Lady! (laughing)

Shelley: Clancy Brown, thank you so much!

Clancy: Debra did a great job… That was the funniest line. We were sittin’ around at the table readin’ it, and uh, Debra’s a sweet girl, so she just didn’t wanna say, “When you get tired of GRANDMA,” cuz she was sittin’ right next to Adrienne! (laughing)

Shelley: Well, yeah!

Clancy: (laughing) But I just got a big kick out of that line.

Shelley: That was a really good line!

Clancy: Oh, yeah!

Shelley: That was a REALLY good line – and made me shudder! Ew…

Clancy: Yes, I know! She just stuck that… She just stuck that goatee right in his nose, didn’t she?

Shelley: I know! She DID!

Clancy: (laughing)

Shelley: And the thing is, we women are used to kissing guys with beards, but… the other way around?!?

Clancy: Yeah! (laughing)

Shelley: It just… For some reason, it just doesn’t work.

Clancy: Yeah, can we think of something better to say than, “I got work to do”?

Shelley: (laughing) He was so shocked, he couldn’t think of ANYTHING.

Clancy: Yeah! (chuckling) Couldn’t he just shudder a little bit?

Shelley: Exactly! Thank you so much for chatting this morning, helping us “Decode Carnivale.”

Clancy: Well, good luck. Next week’s the last one.

Shelley: Yeah, I’m sure the guys will have more than enough stuff to talk to you about.

Clancy: All right. (seriously) Well… I wish them well. And hey, this was fun! Why don’t we do somethin’ else later on?

Shelley: All right!

Clancy: Yeah!

Shelley: You wanna call me?

Clancy: I’ll decode…

Shelley: Whatever?

Clancy: “CSI” for you!

Shelley: Okay, sounds great! Clancy Brown from “Carnivale”… Thank you very much!


To Comment on this Interview, click HERE

WIRX “Decoding Carnivale” Call-in with Clancy Brown • 11-17-03

This is the transcript from Clancy’s radio call-in segment on Southwest Michigan’s WIRX/Rock 107.1, with John Jay and Brother Phil.

(Brother Phil was on vacation during this show)

John: “Carnivale” on HBO – there’s only two episodes left on “Carnivale,” which means they’re gonna have to do a lot of wrappin’ up over the next couple of weeks, if they’re gonna eliminate SOME of the confusion. I need closure! I’m just like any other red-blooded American consumer. I need closure to my stories and, hopefully, we’ll get some after the next couple of weeks. We’ll try to get some in a few minutes – GIT SOME! – with Clancy Brown, on the way next…

(Station Identification)

John: (“Carnivale” theme music starts up) It’s 8:07 at Rock 107/WIRX. Some Tom Petty... News Center 16 says today high of only around 51. Kinda foggy this morning, too, but we don’t have the dense fog advisory. There’s no school issues with the fog. Overnight tonight, down into the thirties again. Right now it’s 43. And that totally bizarre music means we’re gonna talk about a totally bizarre show with Clancy Brown – Brother Justin Crowe on “Carnivale,” HBO, Sunday nights. And I watched it last night, Clancy, and you got some ‘esplainin’ to do!

Clancy: Are ya there??? Ya there…? (John overslept and missed the first hour of his radio show on this particular Monday morning. – Ed.)

John: Yeah, I’m here…

Clancy: Are ya there, John? You… Ya made it in today?

John: Yes!

Clancy: All right… (giggling) Very good.

John: Yes… God, what a morning! Have you ever done that?

Clancy: (laughing hard)

John: Have you ever done that thing where you’re… You know you’re supposed to be somewhere, but you just sorta…

Clancy: I did it today, as a matter of fact! Except I woke up three minutes before you called.

John: Is that right?

Clancy: (laughing) Yes!

John: Ya know, the thing is that you said to me, “Is it Monday already?” And I’m like, that’s exactly what I said to myself this morning!

Clancy: (laughing)

John: I was layin’ in bed at, ya know… And I’m supposed to be here an hour before that, and it’s like… I don’t know what happened. My mind just said, “No, it’s Sunday. You can lay there and, you know, luxuriate!”

Clancy: Dude, it’s the worst thing you’ve ever done… Because I KNOW the worst thing you’ve ever done.

John: Oh really?

Clancy: Come to my church and I’ll walk down the aisle, and I’ll tell ya! (laughing)

John: Isn’t that sweet? What a nice little… What a nice little ability that would be to have, to just sort of look at somebody and go, “You lust for the loins of another man!”

Clancy: (laughing hard) Well, that happens all the time out here in California!

John: (laughing) Yeah!

Clancy: You don’t need any special powers to know who that is out here in California.

John: No, we just call that Gay-dar.

Clancy: Yeah, we do too…

John: But the other ones are pretty good, you… What was the other one? Some guy with his sister?

Clancy: Yeah, some guy slept with his wife’s sister…

John: Wife’s sister, right!

Clancy: Some woman had her hand in the till at work, ya know…

John: Hee-hee!

Clancy: Another kid lied to his parents.

John: I liked it…

Clancy: Boy, that never happens, either…

John: No! “You lied to your parents!” Well, okay, we’re reaching with that one. Every kid lies to their parents…

Clancy: Yeah, that one was pretty safe.

John: Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, Justin Crowe is starting to go through somewhat of a… Maybe a little reawakening. Not so much a metamorphosis, but a reawakening – that he is starting to understand what he is and who he is now.

Clancy: Justin’s getting’ it together. He’s sorting out all those weird voices in his head.

John: Mm-hmm.

Clancy: Ya know? He’s getting’ with the program a little bit.

John: And I think that spells trouble for a lot of people.

Clancy: Well, sure! I mean, you know… For all you sinners!

John: When you get baptized and a bloody cross appears on your head, that can’t be a good sign!

Clancy: Well, ya know…

John: Cuz that didn’t happen to me at my baptism!

Clancy: See, I mean… I don’t know if it’s good or bad, but it did happen.

John: Yeah… (laughing) I think it’s BAD!

Clancy: (laughing) You do?

John: I think, you get a bloody cross on your forehead, it’s bad!

Clancy: Yeah, well… It could be bad. It’s not bad yet.

John: Especially when you’re saying to your father “Finish it!”

Clancy: Yeah, finish it, for cryin’ out loud!

John: With that look on your face.

Clancy: I mean, c’mon. Ya know… He’s born again! He’s born again and he needs to be re-baptized!

John: And everybody wanted to be re-baptized then.

Clancy: And everybody’s getting tail again, EXCEPT ME! Did you notice that?

John: Yes, I did! I was gonna get to that, that Ben Hawkins got to ride the Adrienne Barbeau Express last night!

Clancy: Yes, lucky guy…

John: Man, was I jealous! I’m like, wait a minute! Now, this kid wasn’t even born when I was lusting after Adrienne Barbeau!

Clancy: That’s right!

John: How old is he?

Clancy: Uh… The actor or the…?

John: Yeah, the actor!

Clancy: The actor is twenty-three, twenty-four, something like that.

John: Yeah, I mean, ya know… that’s…

Clancy: Yeah, it’s not fair.

John: Right! Adrienne Barbeau’s got hair combs as old as that!

Clancy: It’s not fair, but don’t worry. Brother Justin is on the case now.

John: Oh, good! Thank God!

Clancy: Brother Justin’s gonna set things right…

John: Or is that who we should we be thanking? I don’t know yet!

Clancy: (laughing) For guys like you and me? Absolutely!

John: All right…

(Sound of coffee cup clattering in background)

Clancy: I’ll take care of that. Don’t you worry…

John: Tappin’ off the spoon on a little java there, Brother Justin?

Clancy: Yeah, FINALLY!

John: Nice!

Clancy: (laughing)

John: I like to hear that. I like to hear the little spoon tap on the ceramic… And last night’s show, I really enjoyed it. It starting to sort of bring things together. We saw… Well, Samson is on the outs. I mean, he’s been kicked out of the Management trailer, but he takes off with Hawkins to that Temple to sorta track down Henry Scudder, and they BOTH miss the Tattooed Man wandering through the cornfield there.

Clancy: Yeah, yeah… I still don’t know what that Tattooed Man is all about. (laughing)

John: I gotta be honest with ya, I was fishin’ for something here, cuz I want you to enlighten me…

Clancy: (laughing) I don’t know! All I know is he’s in shape, and in better shape than I am, so he’s not ME!

John: The dude is totally buffed. And he raped Apollonia, right? Sophie’s mom, wasn’t that the guy doing her last week in the episode?

Clancy: Yep, yep! He had some tattoos on. So I’m… I’m lost on that imagery. I’m sure there’s some historical reference to it, some… You could probably look up that tattoo and find out what that’s about.

John: Yeah, well, I’m tellin’ ya right now, there are two episodes left in this show. And myself, and I think most of the viewers are jonesin’, totally jonesin’ for some closure on some of these storylines.

Clancy: Hey, you’re getting some! You know, it’s starting to all come together. See, it’s all payin’ off, all these subconscious suggestions that have been laid out for the first ten episodes. They’re all coming together. Cuz last night I spent all episode going, “Ah, OH…! Okay… Oh!” Now remember, I haven’t seen the carnival filming. So I don’t know everything that happens there.

John: Is there anybody on the set, to get off talking about the show specifically for a minute, that you never came in contact with during the filming?

Clancy: No, I didn’t… Of course, I came in contact, but I didn’t really hang out with the carnival people too much. Yeah, I’d see ‘em every now and then.

John: Okay… yeah, that’s what I meant. Did they shoot at the same time they were shooting with you, and you know?

Clancy: Nah, they had the day off when I was filming.

John: Ah, I see. Yeah, that’s what I mean. So you’re watching this stuff being just as surprised by all of it as we are.

Clancy: Oh, yeah! I’m lovin’ it! I mean, I know what the scripts said, but I didn’t know how they realized it. I loved that scene last night with what’s-his-name, Stumpy…

John: Oh, God!

Clancy: In the bar… (smart-alecky Stumpy voice) “Hey, Poncho!” (laughing)

John: (laughing) He just kept insulting the guy!

Clancy: I thought about you down there in Mexico a few weeks ago.

John: Yeah, yeah exactly! And, in fact, I recorded the show last night and thought, next time I go to Mexico, I’m gonna have to save that little sound bite of Sophie puking, and asking what they rolled up in that!

Clancy: (laughing)

John: And having Jonesy saying, “You shoulda just stuck with the beer.”

Clancy: (laughing hard)

John: Cuz that’s what we all said to each other when we were down in Mexico. “Nah… No. You don’t wanna be eating that! I didn’t see any stray dogs around here… You don’t wanna…”

Clancy: (laughing) I haven’t seen any stray dogs around here!

John: You don’t wanna be eatin’ THAT! And then Stumpy pickin’ a fight in the bar… and getting his ass kicked. And bringin’ home a new Cooch Dancer!

Clancy: Yeah, well, ya know… That’s ONE way to do it!

John: Yeah.

Clancy: It’s the hard way, but… Stumpy has kind of a circuitous route to everything that comes easy to Jonesy, I guess.

John: Well, there’s gotta be an easier way to recruit Cooch Dancers!

Clancy: Yeah… But, ya know, some women just can’t resist the men that are hurt. It seems that’s the way it is in the Depression. Ya know, if you’ve got a limp and a bad scar, or you get the crap beat outta ya by a bunch of boys, then, ya know, you’re in! (chuckling)

John: Yeah! Or you get Adrienne Barbeau caressing your head til you go to sleep…

Clancy: Right! Like you’re so exhausted, you can’t stay awake. I mean, that’s the other thing I’m wondering… The guy’s been up for, what, four weeks now? And NOW he gets some tail? I don’t get it!

John: That’s it! And the thing is, he stayed awake long enough to finish up, which was impressive!

Clancy: Yeah, well I guess so! And then he had a really good excuse just to fall immediately asleep! (chuckling)

John: (laughing hard) She didn’t wanna, ya know, bust his balls about cuddling right after that.

Clancy: That’s right! “Why can’t we talk now?”

John: “I haven’t slept in four weeks! Leave me alone! I don’t wanna talk! I don’t wanna…”

Clancy: (laughing) “No… I gotta dream about our rabbit round-up or something.”

John: Yeah! Boy, THAT was horrifying!

Clancy: A little homage to “Thunderbolt and Lightfoot.” Did you ever see that movie?

John: Ya know, I did a long, long time ago, but I don’t remember the, ya know…

Clancy: They get in the car with some crazy dude, and he’s piping the exhaust into the main cabin of his Plymouth Fury, and then hops out, and pulls a bunch of rabbits out of his trunk and starts beatin’ on them with a stick or starts shooting at them or something. It’s just the nuttiest sequence you ever saw, and that’s what I was reminded of.

John: I’ll have to re-rent that and view it again. But that scene last night with the rabbits… What did he call it? The rabbit drive?

Clancy: (laughing) The Rabbit Drive!

John: The rabbit drive… “The jacks eat all the crops.” And Samson, “That’s a sound that’ll make you blood run cold!” (lets out a high-pitched squeal)

Clancy: (laughing) Yes, sir!

John: A bunch of screamin’ rabbits! I guess so…

Clancy: Or it means rabbit stew! (laughing)

John: A lot of it! Hey, so tell us about next week. We’ve got two weeks left in the show. That’s it! And they’ve gotta be… Haven’t they told ya yet? Do you know? Are you coming back? (“Carnivale” theme music starts up in background)

Clancy: No, don’t know yet…

John: Oh!

Clancy: But the things start wrapping up pretty fast and furious. If not wrapping up, some of the questions you have get answered. I was shocked by how much, in the last two episodes, the exposition that’s been handed out, the explanations and everything, of all the set-ups, have been coming pretty suddenly and fast. And I think pretty well. Nothing’s just coming easy, but it’s all kinda twisting together in your mind a little bit better. By the end of it, there’ll still be a couple of threads out there but, hopefully, that’ll keep you interested for next season

John: Yeah, that’s the thing. I want that closure to bring us back next year. Yeah, they are starting to define a little more, ya know, obviously good and evil, but there’s still a lot of questions to be answered!

Clancy: Yeah, I don’t think they’ll get down to good and evil yet. I don’t think that’s very clear. I think they’re… (evil laugh) I think there’s still a few more surprises in store.

John: I think so too! That’s the thing… Just when you think you’ve got it pegged, that’s a good guy, that’s a bad guy…

Clancy: Yeah…

John: Somebody’s gonna screw with our heads here at some point real soon!

Clancy: Yeah. And ain’t that always the way?

John: Yeah, but there’s only two episodes left to screw with me!

Clancy: (laughing)

John: Ya know, it had better be some good screwin’, Clancy! That’s all I’ve got to say!

Clancy: (laughing) Well, yeah, yeah… I think there’s gonna be a little bit more of THAT…. (laughing)

John: (laughing) Good!

Clancy: That’s always good.

John: There’s been a lot of sex, man!

Clancy: (Laughing) Yeah!

John: There really has!

Clancy: No kiddin’! No kiddin’… Jonesy, he sleeps with everybody! I think he and Samson are gonna get together… Ya know, he did invite Samson to bunk with him.

John: Oy! Oy-eesh!

Clancy: Remember that. He’s just got… He’s just a libidinous crippled guy!

John: “The truck is aces for me!”

Clancy: Uh-huh!

John: I like it when somebody throws out the term “aces.” “It’s aces for me!”

Clancy: “Yeah, suit yourself. Whatever you say… I’m game! I’m Jonesy, I’ll do whatever you say!” (laughing)

John: (laughing hard) “I’m the carnival whore! I’m Jonesy! That’s what happened to this leg! I was goin’ at it with a mule, and got a nasty kick!” Hey, thanks again for joining us, Clancy! Only two weeks to go, and then you can sleep in on Mondays…

Clancy: All right, my pleasure.

John: Yeah, you’re pleasure to sleep in or to talk with us?

Clancy: Well, I don’t know about sleepin’ in… I’ve totally forgotten what it’s like to do that on Monday mornings.

John: Yeah, so have I. So have I, no doubt about it. Hey, I gotta ask ya, was it your voice I heard on “The Fairly Odd Parents” the other day, another cartoon show?

Clancy: No, that’s a guy named Kevin Michael Richardson. He’s a very large black man.

John: I heard this huge, deep voice on one of the villains on that show, and I went, “Ah… that could be…”

Clancy: No, that’s Kevin -- a good buddy of mine, though.

John: All right, very cool! Hey, Clancy Brown, thanks again, man!

Clancy: All right. Take it easy, John…

John: We’ll talk to you next Monday, and we’ll be paying really close attention.

Clancy: All right… Figure out how to work that alarm clock!

John: Oh… Next Monday I’ll be on time and coherent, believe me.

Clancy: (deep, evil laugh) All right…

John: (laughing) All right, buddy. Thanks again.

Clancy: Seeya.

John: That’s Clancy Brown. “Carnivale,” Sunday nights, HBO, 9 o’clock. If you haven’t been watching up til now… It’s really too late to jump onboard, though. I’m sorry. I really don’t know what to tell ya.


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WIRX “Decoding Carnivale” Call-in with Clancy Brown • 11-10-03

This is the transcript from Clancy’s radio call-in segment on Southwest Michigan’s WIRX/Rock 107.1, with John Jay and Brother Phil.

John: (“Carnivale” theme music starts to play in background.) Coming up, Clancy Brown, from “Carnivale.” It was on last night on HBO, the weirdest show on TV – continues to confound and confuse…

Phil: Absolutely…

John: Only three more episodes remaining.

Phil: Mm-hmm… They’ve got a lot to wrap up in three episodes!

John: Yes, they do!

Phil: I gotta find out if they’ve ordered, ya know, another bank…

John: Yeah, job one will be to see if they’ve ordered more shows. And I would hope the boys would know by now!

Phil: Oh, yeah!

John: So we’ll talk to Clancy Brown in a few uno momentos about “Carnivale.” “Decoding Carnivale” on the way next. Rock 107/WIRX.

(Break for commercials and station identification.)

John: (“Carnivale” theme music starts back up.) Rock 107/WIRX. It’s eight minutes after eight o’clock. News Center 16 says mostly cloudy, high around 50, 45 overnight tonight. It’s only… Get this, Clancy… It’s only 28 here!

Clancy: Very nice…

John: Yeah, oh yeah. It’s great!

Phil: It’s comfy!

Clancy: It’s all-weather.

John: Yeah, what have you got there? Mid-seventies?

Clancy: Actually, it’s warmed up here a little bit. I’d say it’s probably sixty-some here, and it’s five o’clock in the morning.

John: Okay, well… It’ll get better for you, at least! But not much better for us! Clancy Brown from “Carnivale,” welcome to the show. Once again, we’re “Decoding Carnivale.” God knows… Ya know, I really thought that as this show progressed… I almost felt guilty because I thought, we made this deal with Clancy where we’re going to talk to him on Mondays, and I know as the show goes on I’m going to understand more and more. But I’ll be honest with ya…

Phil: Not working out that way?

John: It’s not working out that way.

Clancy: Aww… C’mon! Tonight you got all sorts of… I mean, last night, you got all sorts of stuff!

John: We did…

Clancy: Now you know that Hack Scudder, whoever he is, is Ben’s dad. And that, you know, there’s some kind of thing going on between the blind guy and Samson.

John: Yeah, Lodz and Management is a nice little storyline, where he’s sort of undercutting the power of Samson, there.

Clancy: Yeah! There’s a few payoffs last night.

John: And you were looking real dapper when you left the mental hospital last night.

Clancy: Well, it was a real restful time, ya know…

John & Phil: (laughing)

Clancy: For Brother Justin, going to a loony bin is a little bit like going to a spa.

John: Yeah! Well, here’s the thing, and I started to talk to you about this just a little bit, off the air… You left the mental hospital last night, looking all clean shaven, new suit, and the whole nine yards. And your doctor, the guy that had interviewed you a couple weeks ago, looked like he’d been through a ringer and a half!

Phil: Rough!

John: And he handed you a transcript of like “The Brother Justin Story!”

Clancy: (laughing) That was great, wasn’t it? Well, he was busy writing the story… I didn’t want to give him any time to take care of himself hygienically or anything, you know.

John: Yeah! He just looked really bad when he handed you the little transcript last night.

Clancy: Yeah, well, ya know… He couldn’t get rid of me fast enough! (laughing)

John: (laughing) Yeah… And I did get… I have to thank Beth, Beth Blighton, for giving me a copy of the show from when I was in Mexico…

Phil: The Broken Bones Episode!

John: Yeah, exactly…

Phil: Holy crap!

Clancy: Ah, yes…

John: That was a nice compound fracture on that guy!

Phil: Oh, on the muscle man! BOTH of them!

Clancy: Yeah, a LOT of them! Broken neck, broken arm, broken leg…

John: Yeah, your leg’s kinda… I was reminded of “Misery,” with James Caan, there… (laughing)

Phil: Exactly, I had to turn away.

Clancy: There ya go…

John: (laughing) It was such a nice little scene, where you’re like pleading with the kid to help you. And HBO is like, “Let’s cut to his legs real quick…” Aaaaaarrrrghhhhh!

Clancy: Yeah, that was the scene where they just beat me up. And from the original script, it was really… The original script was more like a Roadrunner/Coyote script. They just terrorized me. Now she just hits me over the head with a rock and whacks me with a stick. Before, I was falling off cliffs…

John: There’s a little bit of violence happening in the show right now, which I really enjoy. And I had missed – you guys were talking about it last week…. You guys were talking about the little violence between Lodz and his girlfriend. What’s her name? Is it Lilly?

Phil: Lila…

Clancy: Loving violence…

John: Yeah, he gives her the shot across the legs with the cane… (laughing)

Phil: Yeah! And I’m going, “What the hell’s THAT for?!?”

John: I know! And she was being so nice! (Lila voice) “He’s back…” and (sound of cane landing, then screams!)

Phil: (Lila voice) “Gabriel’s arms all healed up…” And he gets up, (Lodz voice) “Oh, okay. Well, great!” Then WHAM! What the hell was that for?!?

Clancy: (chuckling in background)

John: I think that’s what the green devil does to ya, the absinthe… I think you just lash out with your cane once in a while.

Clancy: Yeah, he was frustrated there…

John: Lodz is turning out to be a nice little character.

Clancy: Yeah, he’s great! He’s terrific, Patrick…

John: He’s playing a much more involved role in the evolution of Ben, and Ben’s past history. And that’s what this show does! It keeps bringing different characters into the mix. And we still don’t really know how it’s all gonna play out!

Phil: And there’s three episodes left?

Clancy: Yeah. Well, my favorite line last night was, “You’d better hurry up and get born, boy!” Samson says that to Ben.

John: Yeah!

Clancy: (laughing) And that’s what’s going to happen in the next few episodes, is he’s gonna “get born.” He’s gonna start catching up with Brother Justin a little bit.

John: Yeah, how soon, if you can reveal to us… You and Ben have only been together in dream sequences on the show… where you guys physically actually come into contact with each other?

Clancy: Ohhh, I would say… episode… I would say Season Three, maybe! (laughing hard)

John & Phil: (laughing)

Phil: I was gonna say, there’s a lot to work out in the next three episodes!

John: Yeah.

Clancy: Yeah… Well, we’re not gonna physically meet. But you know, guys like us, we don’t have to physically meet!

John: No!

Clancy: We know each other already…

John: Well, Phil’s been dogging me to ask you this question…

Phil: Yeah!

John: Have they…? What’s the future for “Carnivale?” There’s only three episodes left. Are we gonna see Season Two?

Clancy: I dunno! I mean, officially, we don’t know. Everybody’s feeling is that we will, but… But we’ll just have to see. People will have to keep tuning in!

Phil: The guys from HBO just have to physically meet you!

Clancy: Yeah, exactly…

Phil: You guys have to physically meet, get this thing wrapped up, and get another season in the can!

Clancy: They have to pull the trigger. But, you know, they’re never in any hurry. The executives are never in any hurry to make my life any easier…

John: All you have to do is put on those black contact lenses and go show up at the HBO offices.

Clancy: Hey, hey! I hadn’t thought of that! I should just go and get into their heads!

John: That’s right!

Phil: There ya go… Maybe pull a few props outta the “Highlander” movie!

Clancy: (laughing)

Phil: That ought to scare the hell out of them!

John: Yeah! Well, last night… I really enjoyed the show last night from the standpoint that there was a lot of time spent with Ben and his inability to sleep, and sort of getting a little more into his involvement with Lodz and that sort of stuff.

Clancy: Yeah, we were… It was a tremendously unsubtle show last night. Unless you’re still moved by the snake metaphors…

John: Yeah…

Clancy: I mean, c’mon… Ya know, you got Ruthie there in the “Xena, Warrior Princess” costume, doing the nasty with a snake. Intercutting between Jonesy and Mama Cooch, and… (laughing) and it’s like, c’mon, you guys! I think we know what’s going on here!

John: (laughing) The scene with Jonesy and Rita Sue… They’re like, “No… We can’t do it again.” (a pause, then the sound of mad dogs slobbering.)

Clancy: (laughing hard) Been there, done that?

John: They’re voracious! I wonder if she gave him another knee-job?

Clancy: Well… you know! I think they cut right to the chase on that one.

Phil: The well-fed Rita Sue…

John: Yeah, the Rita Sue who it’s a mystery how she can be so zaftig in the Depression era, when she is only eating a couple slices of bread a day.

Clancy: (chuckling)

Phil: Hey, there were a lot of potatoes back then.

Clancy: That’s right.

John: I’ll tell ya this, Clancy, I am VERY impressed with Adrienne Barbeau…

Phil: Yeah, I was just gonna say…

Clancy: Didn’t you just wanna SMACK that boy?!?

John: Yeah! Dude… What are ya doin’?!?

Clancy: It’s like, this is Adrienne Barbeau coming onto you, man! That’s like if Liz Taylor came onto my dad! What’s the matter with you?!?

Phil: Yeah, exactly!

John: She was like one of the seventies women du jour…

Clancy: Oh, my God!

John: And here she is going after this kid… And I gotta tell ya, she still looks pretty good!

Clancy: And she still… She looks really great! She looks much better than Liz Taylor ever did at that age, I tell ya what!

John: Oh, boy!

Phil: Mm-hmm.

Clancy: Yeah, I’m… I’m just gonna go and shake that young man! WHAT are you THINKING?!?

John: I was pretty happy that I taped that snake dance last night…

Clancy: Yeah, she had some fun with that, didn’t she?

Phil: You didn’t tape that, Beth did!

John: Huh? No… I taped last night’s show.

Phil: Oh, okay… I apologize.

John: And by the way, Beth… I know you’re listening…

Clancy: (chuckling)

John: Please… Turn your VCR to the SP setting… I gotta have quality!

Clancy: Ohhhh-ho-ho-ho…. Oh, listen to you!

Phil: Oh, boy! (laughing)

Clancy: “I’m too lazy to do it myself! But…”

Phil: Exactly! He’s gonna start ragging on somebody who dropped off a tape! Boy…

John: Once again, John Jay should have Tivo!

Clancy: Yeah… Just buy the DVD set when it comes out.

John: Oh, is it gonna come out? Have they talked to you about that? HBO does that a lot, so I would imagine they’re gonna do the DVD.

Clancy: Yeah. Of course they are… They’re gonna squeeze every dollar out of it that they can.

Phil: Put a little more money in your pocket? Are you gonna get a little taste of that DVD sale, are ya?

Clancy: Oh, I doubt it…

Phil: “Oh, I doubt it…” Like you don’t know?

Clancy: They won’t even tell me whether we’re gonna go again, so…ya know.

Phil: That’s true.

John: Now ya got me feelin’ bad, cuz I… Beth, I love you. Thank you so much for the tape.

Clancy: (evil laugh) There ya go!

John: Yeah, it was great being able to see it because that had some really cool key parts in it.

Phil: Oh, man!

John: Now, last night’s show, just to recap a couple things before we get your tips to watch out for next week… We saw a bag full of severed feet, we got heads on pikes, we got what appear to be medieval warriors with swords now, we’ve added that to the mix of the World War I guys, the bear in the foxhole, a Tattooed Man raping the catatonic psycho woman…

Clancy: (laughing)

John: We’ve got Lodz, we’ve got Ben laying under a bus, he can’t sleep, with three limbs torn from his body… Am I missing anything? We’ve got Brother Justin with a Mystery Manuscript, written by his psychologist!

Phil: (laughing)

John: I’m tellin’ ya! I’m TRYING to keep track of all this stuff!

Phil: I think you’ve covered about half…

John: Yeah, I think I’ve got about half of it….

Clancy: You’ve got about half of it! Yeah, well… The other half’s coming up!

John: Oh, and the Radio Guy hitting on Iris!

Phil: Yeah!

Clancy: THAT was great, wasn’t it?

John: That was so cool!

Clancy: What’s going on, man? EVERYBODY in this show is getting’ some, EXCEPT Brother Justin!

John: (laughing)

Clancy: My SISTER, for cryin’ out loud!

Phil: No offense against Amy Madigan, but uh… I think the Radio Guy could do a little better. They’ve got her dressed down, man! I’m tellin’ ya…

Clancy: YO… Yo, Phil… (with the “watch it” chuckle)

John: That’s brutal.

Phil: Your sister’s kinda rough looking…

John: Well, she’s in the Depression era and the whole…

Phil: I know, the Depression era just does not do anything for me!

Clancy: (chuckling)

John: It was tough to find a foxy woman in 1932…

Clancy: Yeah, it wasn’t the height of fashion. That wasn’t the most important thing…

John: But you don’t push Adrienne Barbeau away!

Phil: Hell no!

Clancy: You don’t push Adrienne Barbeau away…

John: Especially when she’s got a snake! All right… So what are we looking for next week? What are the key things that Sunday night is going to bring us… that will sort of tie us together with bags full of severed feet and snake dances?

Clancy: Well, you’ll start getting the idea of what those severed feet are all about, and that this story goes back many generations. So that’s sort of what that’s all about. And that there are other people who are hip to what’s going on – other mortals who are hip to what’s going on, and have been hip for a long time. You saw, I think, in the previews, the end of my sermon. I come back to my congregation and tell them that, ya know, it’s a brand new me!

John: Yeah…

Clancy: And get ready to rock!

John: (laughing)

Clancy: And then, let’s see… The snake… I don’t think the snake comes into it just yet. But there is more snake stuff going on.

John: Oh, good!

Clancy: Yeah. And, oh yeah, the Samson/Lodz subplot is developing.

John: That’s very nice.

Clancy: And ya know, we actually heard… Well, I guess we heard Management before, but…

John: Yeah!

Clancy: But now we get the idea that maybe Management doesn’t know everything, since they had that little whatever it was, the watch fob, with the In Hoc Signo Vinces… And Lodz came in and showed it to Management, somehow, and they finally came to some understanding. I’m not sure WHAT they knew, but the important thing was that perhaps Management DIDN’T know something.

John: And finally, we’ve got Clancy Brown admitting he doesn’t know what the hell is going on! (laughing)

Clancy: Hey, I’ve been saying it from the beginning! (chuckling) I’ve been saying it from the beginning!

John: I did like the line… I think my favorite line in last night’s show was when Lodz handed that little fob back to Samson, wrapped in the napkin, and says, “Nicely played, Little man…”

Phil and Clancy: (laughing)

John: That was great!

Clancy: Yes… (Patrick Bauchau voice) “Nicely played, Little Man…”

John: That was great! Clancy Brown, I really appreciate you spending time with us, once again.

Clancy: There’s only three more of these, man… What are we gonna do?

John: I know!

Phil: I know! We’ve got a lot to wrap up, a lot to explain in three episodes.

Clancy: (laughing)

Phil: It’s scaring me!

Clancy: Well, it’s not ALL gonna be explained.

Phil: I know… That’s why we need more, MORE!

Clancy: Some of it’s gonna be done with metaphor – like Snake Dances during love scenes…

John: That was a real subtle metaphor, wasn’t it?

Clancy: Yeah, we oughtta be able to get that! Ya know, maybe in the fifties they wouldn’t have quite gotten that yet…

John: To quote Ricky Riccardo, (in bad Ricky accent) “Clancy… You got some ‘splainin’ to do…!”

Clancy: (laughing) Got some ‘splainin’ to do….

John: (laughing) Hey, thanks again, man… And we’ll talk to you again next Monday, after I’m sure what will be a watershed moment in “Carnivale.”

Phil: That was bad, by the way…

John: I know…

Phil: Don’t ever try to do Ricky again.

John: Sorry… That’s my bad. That’s my bad.

Clancy: Yeah… (laughing) All right!

John: Clancy Brown from “Carnivale” – Thanks, man!

Clancy: Talk to you later!

Phil: Thank you very much!

John: Have yourself a wonderful day and all that kinda stuff… I love talking to that guy. I just get more confused each week. And I’m waiting for that one moment of clarity on the show, when everything just sort of meshes and comes together, and makes me go, “YES!”

Phil: I don’t think that’s gonna happen.

John: I don’t think so either… But that’s what I love so much about it!


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WIRX “Decoding Carnivale” Call-in with Clancy Brown • 11-03-03

This is the transcript from Clancy’s radio call-in segment on Southwest Michigan’s WIRX/Rock 107.1, with John Jay and Brother Phil.

John: (“Carnivale” theme music starts up.) Rock 107/WIRX. It’s about ten minutes after 8 o’clock. It’s gonna be rainy and 60 today, not too nice… Could be worse, though. 52 overnight tonight, and then tomorrow’s high will be 70. That’s a bonus for Michigan in November. I don’t know what the weather’s gonna be like in sunny California, but it’s probably gonna be better than what we got. Clancy Brown!

Clancy: I dunno, man. We got… It’s pretty cold here. You get out there and get your tulip bulbs in as quick as you can, cuz it’s gonna get cold in Michigan one of these days.

John: I don’t know if I can handle Clancy Brown talking gardening…

Clancy: Hee-hee-hee… (laughing)

John: Tulip bulbs… Brother Justin out there wrapping his shrubs in burlap before he breaks a guy’s neck with his mind.

Clancy: There ya go! (laughing)

John: All right… You gotta tell me. Ya know, I was gone last week. I was in Mexico, and where we were there was no satellite TV, so I missed “Carnivale” last week, which drove me nuts!

Clancy: That’s all right, we kinda missed the “Decoding Carnivale” last week, too. (laughing) So don’t worry.

John: Yeah, I heard there was a little snafu with the phone.

Phil: We ended up getting it on!

John: All right…

Clancy: Yeah, we did. We did it… Sibling rivalry aside, we got it.

Phil: Yup!

John: Ya know what’s funny though? I swear to ya, on Sunday, I’m trying to find HBO. It was on in Mexico, but it didn’t have the right shows! The shows were different. It’s like a different thing!

Clancy: You’re in a different time zone, my man!

John: Well, yeah… Maybe I looked at it at the wrong time.

Phil: Was everything in Spanish?

John: Well, no. They had English language with Spanish subtitles. But what was weird is, I went to go turn on “Carnivale,” and “The Shawshank Redemption” is on!

Phil: Oh, Good!

John: So I was getting a little fix of Clancy anyway!

Clancy: There ya go!

John: So I didn’t see ya do anything weird on the show, but I did get to see you fill Gil Bellows full of holes…

Clancy: Yeah, well... Ya know, Gil deserved it at that point.

John: The little bastard! Ya little bastard! Ya can’t smoke in California!

Clancy: (laughing)

John: All right, so the show last night – I tried to keep up with it, and I felt a little bit out in the cold because… Your first appearance on last night’s show was being sorta hauled into a mental asylum, and I gotta tell ya… The ice bath… Being locked into the ice bath looked pretty unpleasant!

Clancy: Well, ya know… I mean, it clears your head!

Phil & Clancy: (laughing)

John: Yeah!

Phil: It’s a good hangover cure!

John: So what was the actual… Were you actually in a tub full of ice? Did they do that so there was no acting required, or was it…?

Clancy: I dunno… Did it look like I was in a tub full of ice? (laughing)

John: Wasn’t that what it was?

Clancy: Can you imagine yourself being immersed in ice? Did I react the same way that you would have?

Phil: (chuckling)

John: I think so…

Clancy: Sorta that, (high-pitched) “Whoo-OOH!” as my cajones go up into my throat?

Phil: (Laughing)

John: Good God!

Clancy: (Laughing) Oh, my God!

John: They woulda had to skim something off the top of that tub if they’d put me in there, believe me.

Clancy: Yeah! Nah, they were very sweet. They actually had body-temperature water, and put little silicone cubes in there that looked like ice, and it was all very pleasant.

Phil: Ah…

John: Well, that’s cool! Very, very good. So that was all Clancy Brown acting right there. This guy’s good!

Clancy: (chuckling) The tough part was when the guy pulled that little leather thing up over, that covers the tub…?

John: Right.

Clancy: The first time he did it, he pulled it up and it unsnapped at the bottom and landed RIGHT between my teeth!

John: OH!

Phil: Ow…

John: Oh, oh God!

Clancy: (laughing) Yeah.

John: You’re like, hey dude!

Clancy: It’s like (words muffled, like he’s got a big leather apron stuffed between his teeth), “Heh-ha-how-heh-here?”

Phil: (laughing)

John: Let me talk to the prop master for a minute!

Clancy: (laughing)

Phil: This isn’t supposed to really hurt!

John: God! So… You were in the asylum because, now, if I’m getting this right – what I gleaned from “Previously on Carnivale…” You attempted to or were threatening to attempt to jump off a bridge?

Clancy: Ooh, you needed to watch the marathon. See, you needed to catch up on all seven episodes.

John: I know… But I only missed one! But apparently I missed a fairly key one.

Clancy: Yeah, you missed a key one. Well, they’re all key. (laughing)

Phil: Yeah, they are!

Clancy: Yeah, yeah, I had a little flashback last week. Uh, I was on a bridge, ready to end it all, and then it suddenly occurred to me that I have a history, and that history was that I was a young immigrant, sole-survivor with my sister – I guess that doesn’t make me a SOLE survivor, but the only survivors of a train wreck. And we were being chased, or at least we thought we were being chased by someone. And as that someone tried to kill my sister, I killed him – or MADE HIM kill himself!

John: Right, so that’s the neck breakin’?

Clancy: Yeah.

Phil: Oh, there were all kinds of nice broken bones in last week’s episode. We talked about that. Compound fractures!

Clancy: (laughing) Yeah, there was lots of osteopathy going on.

Phil: It was good!

John: Well, there was some pretty good stuff in last night’s episode. I particularly enjoyed the “knee-job” that Jonesy got! Holy…!

Clancy: Eww… Oh, that was nasty! I mean, I like a good love scene like anybody else, but c’mon…!

John: What’s with the “knee-job”?

Clancy: What’s with lickin’ the scars?!? Jeez!

John: (laughing) That was so…

Clancy: Oh, man!

John: It was so weird.

Clancy: I suppose that was like sort of… moving and lovely and… ya know, it made HIM cry. But I was just grossed out!

John: Hey, ya wanna cut that out on the knee and move up about eighteen inches there, if you’d like!

Clancy: It’s SCAR tissue, baby, I can’t FEEL anything! SCAR tissue…

John: Oh! (hurling sounds)

Clancy: Oof! (laughing) Oh, jeez!!!

John: I particularly enjoyed Stumpy’s little chat with Jonesy, when he was setting that up, when he said, “When you’re in with the doctor and he grabs your sac, do ya think he’s SWEET on ya?” (Laughing)

Clancy: Yeah! (Laughing)

Phil: Oh, ugh…

John: (laughing) It was great!

Clancy: “The woman’s a professional!” (Laughing)

John: I just loved that! I loved that, man… And I liked the chat that you had with the psychologist, there in the padded cell. What is it, “Pain is just a bi-product?”

Clancy: Yeah, well, pain is just a bi-product of the therapy – a necessary side-effect.

John: “You misspelled excitement.”

Clancy: (chuckling)

John: Also on last night’s show, Brother Justin and the kid were onscreen together, albeit in a dream sequence, but you guys were together in that scene momentarily.

Clancy: [Thinking John meant the scene with Justin & Alexsei] Man, you’re so out of it… (chuckling) You have to catch seven again.

John: I’ve gotta see it then?

Clancy: I guess in psychology, or in psychiatry, there’s a whole sort of explanation to that. That there’s an older Justin and a younger Justin, the child and the man, and the child kills the man and therefore reverts back to the purest form of himself and all that other stuff. Ya know, it’s all this high-falutin’ stuff that they mean to suggest by that. But yeah, in the dream sequence I occupied the role of the man who was chasing myself and my sister.

John: Ah!

Clancy: And only at the end do we realize that it’s little Justin and it’s little Iris.

Phil: Yeah! See, we talked about this last week. I NEED this little segment of our show every Monday, cuz I am NOT smart enough to figure this show out, obviously!

Clancy: Well… You don’t need to figure it out, you just need to watch it every week, I mean… Ya know…

Phil: I love it!

John: You gotta talk to the people there in Mexico! But the show started this week and there’s Ben laying there with his left arm and both his legs torn off, and you’re sitting in your little Brother Justin robe… It was like a dream within a dream!

Clancy: (eerie boogie man voice) Dream Sequence…

John: Right.

Clancy: That’s an old cinematic trick where you think you wake up from the dream, but then you actually didn’t wake up from the dream!

John: Right.

Clancy: And you gotta wake up from the dream again.

John: Right.

Clancy: (laughing) That’s what happened to me this morning!

John: (laughing) That started me right off on the right foot last night. I went, “Aw, dammit!” Ya know, I was…

Clancy: (laughing)

Phil: I have to catch THIS episode, cuz honestly, my girlfriend screwed me out of “Carnivale” last night – no pun intended.

Clancy: Oh? Congratulations! (chuckling)

John: I don’t wanna hear about this… I don’t need to hear anything about that!

Phil: No pun intended!

Clancy: (laughing) Congratulations!

John: I so don’t need to hear anything about that!

Phil: And I can’t miss… I have to try to keep up. Cuz frankly, I’m not bright!

Clancy: Nah, it’s all that talk about lickin’ scar tissue that got you worked up! (chuckling)

Phil: (laughing)

John: God, that was just unreal! It was absolutely unreal… So, I woulda liked to have seen Brother Justin break that psychologist’s neck with his mind there, that woulda been pretty cool!

Clancy: Nah, ya see… I don’t think Brother Justin broke anybody’s neck. I don’t think Brother Justin actually DOES anything like that. He just sort of suggests to people what to do and they do it…

Phil: They do it themselves?

Clancy: They do it themselves…

John: He’s certainly becoming a mysterious character, and we’re expounding now the storyline where the radio guy, who’s got the country… (Thirties radio voice) “Every man, woman, and child, in search of Brother Justin!”

Clancy: (Laughing)

Phil: Mmm-hmm.

Clancy: He’s the best!

John: A little thirties hyperbole… (Thirties radio voice) “Every man, woman, and child scouring the countryside for Brother Justin!”

Clancy: You’ve come a long way, haven’tcha there?

Phil: That was one of my favorite parts last week…

Clancy: That’s right, that little Walter Winchell thing goin’ on.

Phil: He totally put the guy on the spot and got all kinds of money for the church.

Clancy: Yeah, that’s right. You missed that part, too!

John: Yeah, I missed that… So what happened there?

Phil: Oh. It was good. He put one of the city commissioners on the spot when he was on the radio with, (Thirties radio voice) “How much money are you gonna donate?” Ya know? “At least three thousand, I would imagine…”

John: Oh, really?

Clancy: Yeah, the guy who had the infarction back in episode three or so…

John: Well, there ya go! And we got Lobster Gal last night. That was pretty good.

Clancy: Yeah! Excuse me, but… Did that family seem a little, uh… chubby to be in the Depression?

Phil: (laughing)

John: Ya know, can I bring that up real quick?

Clancy: I mean, it was very white trashy, but… ya know, was she just a little bit too well fed?

John: I definitely… Honest to God, it’s so funny you mentioned that cuz I actually thought that last night, not only about that family, but about a couple people in the “Carnivale” itself!

Phil: Rita!

John: Where are ya getting the food to maintain this two hundred and forty pound, ya know?

Clancy: Well, the “Carnivale” is showbiz, ya know, and we eat! (Laughing) We eat over here. We eat well!

John: And how about Lodz and his little… What’s the bearded chick’s name?

Clancy: Lila…

John: Lila! (whistles)

Clancy: His Little Buttercup…

John: Boy, they’re a freaky little couple, huh?

Clancy: (evil laugh)

John: She’s giving him the power hit off the hookah, and he’s over there with his absinthe. They are just… whew!

Phil: He beat the crap out of her in last week’s episode, didn’t he?

Clancy: Makes you think that maybe they’ve done that before…

John: Yeah, I know a couple couples like that.

Clancy: Yeah, a little argument, a little make up, and then a little argument, and a little make up…

Phil: (Shivering) Whew-ew….

John: Layin’ around blowin’ the hookah.

Clancy: Ya know, you can’t just go and lick the scar tissue.

John: (laughing hard)

Clancy: You gotta inflict a few scar tissues...

John: It can’t just be a “scar-job,” baby!

Clancy: (laughing)

John: Hey, give us a quick peek into what we should be looking for next week.

Clancy: Oh, well, jeez… Ya know, I’m starting to lose track myself!

John: You’re in a padded room… You’ve got a straightjacket on.

Clancy: Yeah, I’m in a padded room. I’m actually out of the padded room, and me and the psychologist, we start getting along a lot better.

John: That’s good.

Clancy: And Iris actually goes on the radio with Tommy, with the radio guy, I think which precipitates my healing, and um… What happens in the carnie? Goodness! I think there’s a little more action between Ben and Ruthie, and… Gosh, ya know, I forget what happens in the “Carnivale.”

John: All right, well, that’s all right. I just wanna keep track of Justin, I did like…

Clancy: This one was eight, right? So nine is next week.

John: Yeah.

Clancy: Next week’s is gonna be good, though. It’s all driving toward the finale.

John: I gotta get a tape of seven, or maybe HBO will run a thing again.

Clancy: Oh, yeah!

John: I dunno.

Phil: They should have it on again this week.

John: I enjoyed the moment with Brother Justin in the asylum there, with the guy screamin’ toward the end of the show. “Be still.”

Clancy: Yeah, well…

John: And everybody in the thing sorta freaks out cuz this guy quit making his noise. (John imitates the howler monkey inmate.)

Clancy: Yeah, don’t you wish you had that power every now and then?

John: Oh, yeah!

Phil: Mmm-hmmm!

John: Boy, would that be powerful.

Clancy: Ya know, especially when the dogs are barkin’.

John: (Deep Clancy voice) “Be still…”

Phil: Or like every time I go to the movies!

Clancy: (laughing) Yeah, every time you go to the movies… There’s so many places where people just start bellowing inappropriately!

John: Brother Justin would be a great guy to go to the movies with.

Clancy: Of course!

Phil: Yeah!

John: Hey, get him to be still, wouldja?

Phil: Exactly… “Hey, how did my cell phone get up my ass?”

Clancy: (laughing hard)

John: (making sound of phone ringing – one that’s suddenly muffled.) Oooof-OW! Whoo-hoo, that would be great!

(Clancy, John, and Phil laughing.)

John: Clancy Brown from “Carnivale” on HBO, Sunday nights at 9 o’clock. Don’t miss it like I did last week, cuz you got catchin’ up to do.

Clancy: Because then you’re outta luck.

John: I think it’s smart that HBO is doing the marathon thing. I gotta try to catch seven, if somebody ran tape on that.

Phil: They have to do the marathon thing, though, on Saturday, cuz I can’t… I’ve got the NFL!

John: Or like every week!

Clancy: You can’t! It’s Sunday, for cryin’ out loud! How can you sit there and watch the marathon?

Phil: Yeah, I got football to watch.

Clancy: They’ve got a little demographic research to do over there…

Phil: I think so.

John: Well, hey, thanks again, Clancy! Always a pleasure chatting with you, my friend.

Clancy: All right.

John: Loved you in “Shawshank!” Saw it this last weekend…

Clancy: All right, take care of that TAN!

John: (laughing)

Clancy: You take care of that tan, John. It’s November!

Phil: You should take care of that BURN, is more like.

Clancy: Oh!

Phil: John and I don’t tan… We burn!

John: I’m a touch pink, just a little on the pink side…

Clancy: (laughing) All right…

John: All right, buddy. Have a good week, Clancy!

Clancy: Talk to you later. Seeya!

John: We’ll seeya around. That’s Clancy Brown from “Carnivale.” Always a pleasure chatting with that guy.

Phil: Always!


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