From. Philadelphia I'm Terry Gross with fresh air today Alec Baldwin talks about how he created the Donald Trump impression. I always say the same stupid thing to myself I say up right eyebrow down stick your mouth as far as you can that you're trying to bite somebody. With that ability and we'll talk about Baldwin's new memoir which chronicles some of the highs and lows of his career and his life he fell in love with movies watching old black and white films on t.v. With his parents I watched truculent 50 times to them. But when he told his mother he wanted to pursue acting instead of Law My mother was apoplectic I mean she was on the phone with yeah Alec Baldwin is now starring in the new animated film. Coming up. Live from n.p.r. News in Washington I'm Shay's Stevens the u.s. Ambassador to the United Nations says the trumpet ministration may act alone if the Security Council fails to respond to a deadly chemical weapons attack in Syria as N.P.R.'s Michele Kelemen reports the warning comes as the u.s. And Russia disagree on how Tuesday's attack occurred the Russians say that a Syrian airstrike hit a weapons depot where the rebels stored chemicals the u.s. Believes Bashar al Assad's forces unleashed a deadly nerve agent and u.s. Ambassador Nikki Haley calls this a new low the truth is that Assad Russia and Iran have no interest in peace they illegitimate Syrian government led by a man with no conscience has committed Untold Atrocities against his people for more than 6 years Haley says when the u.n. Consistently fails to respond member states are compelled to take action neither she nor President Trump would say what they might do Michele Kelemen n.p.r. News Washington Congress has passed a legislation to temporarily extend the program giving the nation's veterans more health care options the troubled veterans choice health care program was set to expire in August as Montana Public Radio's Eric Whitney reports the Veterans Administration says it needs more time to fix the system veterans choice was Congress's $10000000000.00 fix to the 2014 scandal over long wait times for health care at the v.a. In Phoenix it's supposed to connect vets to clinics in the private sector if they have to wait more than 30 days for a v.a. Appointment or live far from a v.a. Facility but many vets say it's actually increased their wait times and doctors say v.a. Payments are very slow Montana Senator Jon Tester says his bill to extend veterans choice contains reforms will get more providers jump on board and we're get more veterans using it if the time to set up those appointments is reduced dramatically v.a. Administrators say the. Mention will buy them time to come up with a brand new program for buying care from private providers for n.p.r. News I'm Eric Whitney homeland security secretary John Kelly says fewer than 12500 people were caught trying to enter the u.s. From Mexico last month it's the lowest figure in 17 years Kelly tells a Senate committee the decrease began after President Trump took office in particular we've seen a dramatic reduction in the number of families and the number of children that are in that pipeline it won't last it won't last Let's we do something again to secure the border President Trump fails to build a wall along the entire southern border authorities have raided a Los Angeles area of business suspected of defrauding a federal program that grants visas to immigrants who invest in projects to create jobs the California investment immigration fund in San Gabriel is accused of helping wealthy Chinese investors obtain green cards for projects that never materialized this is n.p.r. News. Good evening in Seattle for I'm Dave Meier with k.c.a.l. You news California is attempting to resolve tricky conflicts in its legal marijuana laws Governor Brown's administration on Tuesday outlined a series of proposed changes intended to reconcile its medical cannabis law with Prop $64.00 which voters approved last year and legalized recreational pot in the nation's most populous state differences in the 2 laws pose a significant obstacle as the state moves to create the nation's largest marijuana economy with an estimated value of $7000000000.00 Earlier this year Brown proposed funding more than $50000000.00 to establish programs to collect on issue licenses while hiring dozens of workers to regulate the industry the administration has stressed that one regulatory framework is needed not separate laws for recreational and medical cannabis for. 2 Democrats are headed to a June runoff for an open u.s. House seat in Southern California but the party is already having a head to challenging Republicans in 2018 the contest yesterday and they strongly Democratic district that includes downtown Los Angeles attracted $1000.00 Democrats among a field of nearly 2 dozen candidates party leaders say the robust field as another sign of energy within the Democratic ranks the trap administration is opening the floodgates for private companies that want to pump water from under the Mojave Desert and sell it in Southern California counties Incorporated was to build a 43 mile pipeline from its private Mojave wells to the Colorado River Aqueduct but a 2015 decision by the Bureau of Land Management effectively prevented goodies from building the pipeline without a costly environmental review in a March 29th memo the b.l.m. Revoked policy guidance that led to that decision but he says it's grateful for efforts to reverse the Obama era policy critics including Senator Dianne Feinstein contend the pumping will dry up springs that doesn't wildlife need and long endangered bald eagles are making a comeback in the San Francisco Bay area according to a recent study there in $1000.00 reported deaths in 8 counties nests have been spotted at Stanford University a mall and even a water park the local national Ingle boom is the payoff for decades of environmental investment 50 years ago the bird seemed destined to become a memory until official protection and pesticide restrictions were issued time Dow is 806 listening to fresh air right here on Key c o u public radio support for n.p.r. Comes from n.p.r. Stations other contributors include the loch Anytus Brewing Company proud supporters of the Tiny Desk contest and working to help bands reach more ears through beers more at logon meetest dot com and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. This is Fresh Air I'm Terry Gross my guest Alec Baldwin has become kind of a regular on Saturday Night Live doing his impression of Donald Trump a portrayal that President Trump says stinks Baldwin now holds the title for the number of times anyone has ever guest hosted the show 17 times but one has a new memoir called Never the less and its publication coincides with the release of his animated movie The Boss baby which was number one at the box office last weekend his character is an infant who dresses in a business suit carries a briefcase and behaves like a commanding boss the character connects to a couple of roles Baldwin is famous for a ruthless salesman in Glengarry Glen Ross and a network executive in 30 Rock we're going to talk about his life and work let's start with the Saturday Night Live clip from March 11th aliens from planets or black 9 have attacked the earth Kenan Thompson plays a military officer giving the troops a pep talk about how they have to save the human race but 1st he says your commander in chief wants to say a few words and he steps aside for President Trump played by Alec Baldwin. So here's the deal we are going to beat these aliens because we've got the best military but we don't want any more. In the areas are laughing at us killing us and they're laughing at us we know the aliens are killing us or they have the most advanced weaponized technology we've ever seen what should we do Ok here's what we do is we're going to do it we're going to bring the cold back Ok. We're going to have so much coal you're going to say where did all this coal come from I never knew they could be so much gold but Mr President what about the aliens they just favorites the entire state of California so that I won the popular vote. Please everyone and got a fornia is dead. Even Arnold. Sir yes we are dealing with a highly advanced species here difference or black not their ships are invisible they're telepathic Ok we don't know that they are from so blood and I actually heard more but night is very beautiful very fantastic. Thank God does he have business ties on this or Black Knight. I like Baldwin welcome back to Fresh Air thank you so much congratulations on the boss baby congratulations on your memoir and on your trump person nation on Saturday Night Live so I'd like to start with that how did you start doing Donald Trump and what stood out for you watching him that you thought you could do to caricature him. I think other people can certainly do trump more deftly than I can I don't think I really do the greatest impersonation of Trump or say but we're not doing it on film we're doing it live on a t.v. Show but 1130 at night in front of a live audience so there's a there's a kind of you kind of blow it up you know want to say it's kind of the Macy's Day Parade for Trump you know it's a very larger than life thing and I think in the back of my mind maybe I could do him a little more precisely if we were in a different venue but for this you got to pick a couple things which is just his. I mean I always say the same stupid thing to myself I say you know left eyebrow up right eyebrow down stick your mouth out as far as you can the kid trying to bite somebody who's nose off and kind of growl with that irritability you know Trump a someone to me where the look the things I try to lock into and kind of hold onto for just for that brief 5 minutes of the cold opening is that he's done having any fun he doesn't shut up about how rich he is he doesn't stop talking about how much money has and how much privilege he has and he just seems miserable I mean if he's an advertisement for wealth and privilege. And good God And I think it's terrible but it was we did that and he was always straining to find a stronger or better word in his language and never found it. So you'd have him pause you know Trump is always in the going you know the people that I work with they're just really really the most fantastic people who are fantastic and you know he just he just always you see him digging in some been these are going to filing room looking for the word of us say of my son and Jerry it is really just an amazing young guy he's amazing he's just amazing I think he has a glossary of like $200.00 words so Trump has negative tweeted about Saturday Night Live and about you in particular I'll read a couple of tweets this is a total 16th at 7 14 am watch Saturday Night Live shot on me time to retire the morning and one funny show Alec Baldwin portrayal stinks media rigging election December 4th 12 13 am just tried watching Saturday Night Live unwatchable totally biased not funny and the Baldwin impersonation just can't get any worse sad and you responded release your tax returns and I'll stop Yes yes he hasn't released them you haven't stopped knowing what your 1st reaction when you realize that Trump was tweeting about your impersonation he discovered of absurd Well I mean regardless of whether you're the subject of those tweets or one of them because all those tweets are kind of a multiple warheads you know he takes on the show he takes on the press he takes on me all in $140.00 characters so he does have some skill there but I think I it's absurd that he would be doing that in the direction of anybody. Any kind of comedy programming that's parodying him or commenting on the weather was Jon Stewart in his day and so forth or Kobe or now I find it amazing that he's doing that and then when you think about it's me that he's doing with I find that even more surreal. So let's talk a little bit about your memoir nevertheless one of the things I really enjoyed learning about you is that growing up in Long Island messy people Long Island you watched a lot of old movies on t.v. I grew up in New York City in Brooklyn and watched a lot of the same movie shows that you did the Late Show The Late Late Show The Early Show how well as a Sunday afternoon thing you mentioned picture for a Sunday yeah picture for Sunday afternoon and then you explain in your book that you bonded with your father watching like the late night old movies on t.v. And you bonded with your mother when you faked being sick and staying home from school and watch daytime t.v. With her to shore yeah so I just thought that's so interesting that you became an actor and like t.v. You know like movies and t.v. Were ways of bonding with your parents but so with the movies that you saw on t.v. What are the movies that you saw the most that made the biggest impression ones that you were able to watch over and over again you know when I was young my dad I'm perfectly willing to see now that what I loved and what I was doing and what I was opening up my mind to was to communicate with my dad he would come home from work he'd lay on this day bed in the den of our house that was a t.v. And I'd sit in a chair and you know that this was his sacred time his alone time you know one could get near him or when he would he bother him in the evening because he'd get home sometimes 10 11 o'clock. Sometimes I think he stayed away he pretended he had a job at night he was really just doing something else but it was it was tough and he would come home and 6 kids and my mom and I think everybody was a stressed out and. He be reading the capsule reviews in The Times t.v. Section and my dad would say Wow How Green Was My Valley that's a good one. At 1130 I said Can we watch How Green Was My Valley dad I was 10 years old he's a no no no too late he was well let's just watch 10 minutes 10 minutes 15 minutes of How Green Was My Valley and you have to go to bed I think sure Dad sure for the book like a charm t.v. Comes on my valley my dad passes out of the county falls asleep and I watch all of How Green Was My. I watch the whole thing and some nights actually got away with watching a piece of the next 11 15 in the morning in your memoir you write that you learned lines from a lot of different films so I'm going to ask you to do a passage from a film that you said you'll remember. Yes Yeah I'll always remember it like this lines that I was used to think were funny you know like those men I loved men in movies who they always won and they won in some funny way like there's that time that. Bogart as Alicia Cook Jr has got him in the hotel and he's walking him up to go meet Chris Sydney Greenstreet in Maltese Falcon and he's got the gun on him and Bogart disarms Alicia Cooke Jr and he gets the gun away from him and he points to going to them and says Come on he says that will get you in real good with you because. And I just love things like that where the guy the hero wins and they go they were great bad guys maybe but they made the bad guys really bad you know in the. And you know both treasures here Margery what's 3 times $35000.00 I bet you $105000.00 you fall asleep before I do you say to those guys who all those movies that were Bogart was like the Great when he was such a great actor and so different so unique but Cagney Bogart Paul Muni the witness of us everybody used to do impressions of Cagney all the comics used to do impressions of Cagney when I was yeah did you have a Cagney impression Cagney was well I mean I was get the line wrong because I went back and saw the movie Public Enemy and think he's got the guy in the trunk of the car where the guy goes all broken up you're breathing air I care for you know I'm going to hear. Me stand so he goes You want to give Yeah boom boom boom and he shoots out of the truck. Think to say you want to I give Yeah and I used to do that I'd lay in bed next to my mother my mother was trying to sleep she would take naps every day this is when I was like 10 and my mother had 6 little kids you realize I look now with my children my young children and I realize my mother had a little children so they need to be constantly watched when the kids were Mike when my brothers and I got to be all of us got to be 161514 my mother just opened the door and kicked us out of the house I don't care what you do to make sure you don't get hit by a car but get out and she banished us from the house in the driving snow she even did us from the house she just didn't want to in the house so she wouldn't go to lose her marbles and but when I was a little boy and I lay in bed next to my mother my mother would be sleeping and in this very quiet voice you hear me go on and you want to give yeah oh my oh my oh my mother. It me you also I still. You also used to watch Chiller Theater when you were growing up which was the Saturday night late night monster movie that Zach really hosted and my older brother would watch that and I was allowed to stay stay up for a few minutes of it and it terrified me I fell in love with monster movies but you know because of the things that really scare you when you fall in love with afterwards go see all those movies you know what really scared he was you're young Yeah oh Dracula watch truculent 50 times listen to them Children Of The Night want the music they may keep say I love them and they love that one I love my favorite line Matthew Broderick and I always we Gail each other with our cord reins long beatings from Invisible Man because we're invisible man junkies and whenever Matthew and I see each other we look at each other and say sit down you fool and let's have a decent 5. Because he says he says that to his enemy in the film and the very 1st movie that I watch with my dad that I was that made me an addict because we would watch a $1000000.00 movie and sorry wrong number came out with Barbara Stanwyck and Burt Lancaster and that movie scared the hell out of me the idea that a man would pay people to kill his wife to collect the insurance and I was probably 8 or 9 years old and I was complete idiot look at my dad and say gee Dad I was I was like Dondi out of dandy comics I think do you Dad Do people really do that day that they people to kill their wives to get the insurance dad my father the glare over my mother go indeed they do yes they do let me reintroduce you if you're just joining us my guest is Alec Baldwin he has a new memoir called nevertheless we're going to take a short break and then we'll be right back this is Fresh Air. I'm Thomas for coming up on the next on point the gas attacks in Syria and the u.s. Threat in the u.n. To act plus teacher by day blogger by night multitasking millennial is a working side jobs look at the side hustle economy that's coming up next on point from n.p.r. . Between 9 and 11 every weekday after Morning Edition on k.c.a.l. . This is Fresh Air and if you're just joining us my guest is Alec Baldwin and he has a new memoir called Never the less and he's the voice of the boss baby in the new number one box office rated film and of course he's doing President Trump on Saturday Night Live. So you grew up in Mezzeh people Long Island and you point out not the affluent part there were 2 high schools your father taught at the one where the more prosperous families sent their kids in you went to the other one your father taught history in economics he coached football in rifle Lee chaperone dances supervise weekend recreation programs directed one of the school districts summer camp programs and you say he was strict with you because he's seen what happens to kids who go off the track and you start drinking or using drugs so in what way was he strict with you. Oh my dad grew up in Brooklyn and I think my dad just you know he saw a tough part of Brooklyn he played football with boys he went to Syracuse to play football and he was around pretty tough people and he just you know he they moved to a tough to Fort Greene when Fort Greene was not a good area like it is now it's all been built up and I think when he moved out to Long Island like a lot of city dads it was like it was almost like we didn't move out here for you to get it wrong you know and he didn't realize and I take that back he did realize but I think he was puzzled how to deal with the fact that people had moved out from the city brought all the problems of the city with them as well as kids that are on occupied they're going to do drugs and drink and party and things like that so my dad was very very I'm not going to say menacing but he was very very forceful with us he would like look at me and say we're going to go see I'm going to go to my friend Jeff's house here what are you guys going to do because of what you did you leave the phone number with your mother and everything was very calm and very officious and then at the end he say what time you to come home I say I would be on the $1030.00 and I'm I'm tense the whole time I'm like I'm waiting for the bomb the truck he leaned in and press his finger into my shoulder and he'd say if you're not back at this house. At 1030 I'm at a break every bone in your body to understand me and I was like. Oh God. I just terrified in the mean and that's what other people who we grew up with those dads had other things to withhold from their kids to control them you can't use the boat this weekend I'm a take your car away take your allowance away we had none of that my father had nothing to give to us you know it in addition to what was normally our clothes and food and housing and if we needed money for certain specific expenses related to our school and trips but he wasn't handed out allowances ever that was it we didn't have that we had to go out and earn our own money and so the only thing he had is the fear program did he ever use the threats. I mean there were times my dad would like you know grab you by the shirt like slam you up against the wall when you were like 15 but that was a different generation I mean my my dad he was my father my dad wasn't somebody who was beating us with a pool cue but he was someone who. Was you know every time he loses temper any grab you and he's a pretty tough guy my father was a very physically powerful very tough guy when he was specially when he was younger he deteriorated very quickly in his fifty's and died when he was 55 years old of cancer but he. Yeah he grabbed us he grabbed us by the shirt it's them to up against the wall if he if he heard you say the wrong thing it sounds like your father had a very kind of frustrating life and a lot of ways you know he was taught at the same high school for his whole career and never never advanced up the ladder in the way that some others did your father had 2 brothers one of them asked your father to cosign for a loan and then defaulted on the loan and your father had to pay it back the other brother married your mother's sister and then they separated and your mother sister arrived at your home with her 3 children I'm so. Have you got this straight for you and then and then hit your family was expected to put them up and take care of them for a year so your father had to repay the loan moan from one brother and temporarily raise the other brothers 3 kids and it was like your mother had a very kind of overwhelming life because she had 6 kids she was taking various kinds of pills leaping pills and tags i.e.d. Pills what message did you take away about what it meant to be a parent and to have a family from watching your parents and watching what they struggled with and all of their frustrations Well I don't think I necessarily. Looked at them and thought about them in terms of what can I learn from them as parents I mean if I look at that I can see that but I walked out of that house with a kind of almost crippling o.c.d. You know I member I like I'd be standing in the hallway of my apartment in New York and the driver was downstairs and I needed to get into the car now like right now we're all going to miss my flight. And I'd be making sure that all the books were stacked neatly. On the table and the entry hall of my apartment. I'd be sitting there literally with my thumbs squeezing the book so that all the seams were right and the books were stacked just so and whoever was primary in my life would be looking me going You're kidding right you realize we have to we're going to miss the flight to the excuse me and I didn't realize that it was all you know coming out of this house of my Which was just a hurricane in a mess all the time because my mother just didn't have the energy to clean up after 6 kids all the time but the and the other thing the more primary thing about making money and I looked at my dad who other men who were my father's colleagues and his contemporaries who taught school recognized that that was not enough of an income it was a calling. And the income made it a calling I mean it was never about money but these other men who were my father's colleagues had other jobs in the summer or on weekends they even had companies to make money to supplement the one guy that was a kid in my neighborhood his father would have a travel agency but my dad didn't do that he wouldn't all of his ancillary activity was at the school and paid very minimal money I mean you can get really good pay very much money but this is what he wanted to do and my mom was always a bit you know pissed off about that I remember when I walked out the door when I was a kid even unconsciously into my whole life became about I don't be like my dad I just do not want to be like my dad I want to get in trouble financially a man's job is to make as much money as he can that's it that's it. You know my dad died and I was. He never really got a chance to see me do what I do I was doing the state time t.v. Show which was fun and it was it was important because it was the beginning for me but I just think about what I would have done to you know to show my dad how much I loved him and cared about him too you know he my dad is somebody who have you know I would say I want to send him around the world 10 times to enjoy himself to pay him back for what he did for me. My guest is Alec Baldwin his new memoir is called Never the less after a break we talk about how he became an actor we look back on when he was the young handsome leading man talk about how religion really entered his life have a pop or he won't get out of his life and I ask him to do is New York Philharmonic announcer voice I'm Terry Gross and this is Fresh Air. The new Bauer Family Foundation supports w.h.y. Wise fresh air and its commitment to sharing ideas and encouraging meaningful conversations for n.p.r. Comes from n.p.r. 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You tonight partly cloudy except for patchy low clouds and fog along the beaches after midnight lows in the upper forty's to mid fifty's on Thursday areas of low clouds and fog in the morning then partly cloudy low to mid sixty's at the beaches around 70 inland mid seventy's in the valleys for Thursday night partly cloudy in the evening then mostly cloudy lows in the upper forty's to mid fifty's with some rain in the forecast for your Friday afternoon I'm Day fire on k c o u n p r for the California coast. This is Fresh Air I'm Terry Gross back with Alec Baldwin he's been doing his impression of Donald Trump pretty regularly on Saturday Night Live his new animated movie The Boss baby was number one at the box office last weekend and he has a new memoir called Nevertheless in which he writes about his life and career Baldwin grew up in mass the people Long Island his father was a dedicated high school teacher who didn't make much money and was supporting 6 kids but when vowed not to be in the kind of financially unstable position his father was so there was a period where he accepted the acting roles that paid the most which he now regrets is a spell of time there where I go and I don't do paper to a kiss on Broadway and I go to the merry men because they're going to pay me a $1000000.00 for the 1st time my life and I thought well that's who I am I'm a guy that's going to storm films you're going to pay me a lot of money and that's the career I want to have I don't go to in the movie was not a good movie and I should have done pretty good I should have followed the instincts I had up till then my instincts if I followed then I would have gone to Broadway. And I would not have chased the money but I did the money instead because people talked me into that there's a bunch of guys that sat me down in such and when I was shooting Red October and in so many words they said to me you're it we're going to put some serious films together and get you up there in the stratosphere and up there with you know Mel and Kevin and buddy and I just said to myself you know I sat and talked and I thought. All of this sounds great except the movies suck that you want me to do and doing street car was an attempt to kind of jerk the wheel back in that direction and try to say well this is who I am and the creative is important to me and I kind of was ashamed of how I handle all of that I feel badly. How did you decide to pursue acting in the 1st place you were interested in politics you ran for the president of George Washington University when you were a student there you lost and then it seems like a big switch from politics in history to acting so I think that you know the year ahead of me was a he was kind of a Got year as they used to say I don't know if they use that term now but I've done all my hard classes in my sophomore and junior year and got involved in student politics because it interested me to a degree and I wanted to go into politics and run for office and get a law degree to help supplement that or help to facilitate that and so I my girlfriend broke up with me I was in love with this woman when I was very young and she said I can't be with you because you're not Jewish. Her grandparents told her to pick up me and she did her grandparents that lose the shake it's a boyfriend. And she did and I go to. Visit a friend of mine she is one of your dish and for the acting program I auditioned for the program and I think because I was a writer they say auditioned for The acting like what evidence was there that you had and I would hang out with them and they'd say Oh you're so funny and you're such Ok here's an idea doing impressions for them to be you know I want to do again I mean yeah you want to add. Yeah right whatever you were doing your stick and then the next thing you know a friend of mine who was at n.y.u. Her roommate was in the acting program would visit my friend and her roommate said My God you should audition for the program just for the hell of it and I did and I got in and they gave me a need based scholarship for the whole year there and the joke in my family is that I called my parents and my mother was apoplectic I mean she was on the phone when it's you know and I said I'm going to leave g.w. To go to and why you to study acting my and I said Now Mom and Dad I said when I go back to New York as a returning New Yorker I'm eligible for all of this financial aid that I lost when I left town so when I went to d.c. So actually n.y.u. Was more expensive than g.w. But is going to cost you less money and my father literally went well let's hear him out let's hear him out. And I moved there and I said to myself I'll do this for a year one year only I'll study and if I get any kind of encouragement that I might have a career in this I'll do it and if I don't I'm out I'll go back to finish my poly so I program and go to law school and that's that and I did the program for a year and got out I got a job right away and I never stopped working since then we have 1st big break was getting a daytime soap opera called the doctor's right and you know you said that you fell in love with showbusiness and alcohol and the alcohol relaxed you for the 1st time in 22 years so in 1904 you want on a multi day cocaine been and then you started going to Cocaine Anonymous but you kept drinking in the following year you started going to a you stopped drinking and haven't had a drink since and you write. You also developed a renewed relationship with God Now this may be too personal but could you explain what you mean by that and how that renewed relationship compared with the kind of Catholicism you were raised with I was raised with a very very you know I don't want to say fire and brimstone but a very very traditional kind of. Suburban Irish Catholic Italian Catholic New York area diocese and the fellas as I'm you know what I was we do our 1st confession when I was a kid. And like a joke it's like something out of a Chris Guest movie you know Coen Brothers movie it's just so far sickle and you sit in your you go into the confessional and the guy was bald you know the shit Norma's head sky with his head like a cabbage you know the father Reedy and you walk in you go bust the father fives and this is my 1st confession and he literally goes and what are you assuming. He looks thunders at me like he's some villain Coen Brothers movie and I go. Like cheese John police would play that role and. The yeah and I go I was terrified and and then when I went to college I became you know pretty much you know a lapsed Catholic forever and ever and then I come back that whole time I went to church a few times they felt compelled to do that to St Matthew's there in d.c. But I come back to Washington and I'm there to New York rather and I'm doing the soap and my dad gets sick in the summer of 82 and and I'm in church I'm like I'm walking across the street to St Patrick's every day and I'm on my knees in front of that ph they have there and. That 50 fiftieth's street side of the building. And I just you know I Ever since then I've been very I'll take the good information where I can and I've gone to Baptist church and and Methodist churches and synagogues on occasion and I've gone to any church because in my mind if I give these people a chance to say I'll take the. Information we're getting from about how to live in this world and keep your sanity which is also what a provider is it a problem when you go to church and you're recognized which could be a distraction for you and for the larger reason why people go to church in the 1st place while there was one church I was a regular attendee of and I went there too I was a lectern there I read the Gospel. And there were 3 women who whose husbands were on the staff of the church and term for the mass they stay were ushers that seated people and they collected money during the collection there were 3 men that did that function and their wives were with them they were and they were older people in their sixty's that were grown people and they were huge Fox News Republicans and while I got up to read and they stood up and turned their back to me in protest of my beating in the middle of the mass in front of all these people . And I was aghast because I didn't even notice it at 1st and they stood up the back of the church they said toward the back of the church and protest and turned their back on to hope I thought I could miss I can't believe anybody's bringing that into a mass. If you're just joining us my guest is Alec Baldwin he's the author of a new memoir called Never the last we're going to take a short break and then be right back this is Fresh Air. I'm Tom asked coming up on the next on point the gas attacks in Syria and the u.s. Threat in the u.n. To act plus teacher by day blogger by night multitasking millennial is a working side jobs look at the side hustle economy that's coming up next on point from n.p.r. . Between 9 and 11 every week day after Morning Edition on k.c.a.l. Your. Support for n.p.r. Comes from n.p.r. Member stations and from Scribner publisher of all the light we cannot see Anthony doors novel about a blind French girl in a German boy whose lives collide during World War 2 all the light we cannot see now in paperback wherever books are sold and from Cancer Treatment Centers of America where teams of medical experts focus on the treatment of only one disease cancer every stage every day learn more at a cancer center dot com. This is Fresh Air and if you're just joining us my guest is Alec Baldwin he has a new memoir called Nevertheless he's also in the number one grossing movie which is an animated film called The Boss baby and of course currently he's on Saturday Night Live a lot during President Trump. You write about playing Stanley Kowalski on Broadway in a Streetcar Named Desire which is of course the role that Marlon Brando made famous and like you're pulling out all the stops like you're smashing your hand on the table and you break your novels and then you start beating your chest instead onstage and you crush a nerve in your chest. And I'm thinking like. You could you describe the feeling of having to go so all the way to know that you would like break your knuckles and then instead of being more gentle The next time you substitute beating your chest and then you crush a nerve in your chest. Like where where does that come from and where does it come from that you just keep going all out and not pulling back for reasons of self-protection I think the people who are actors very often they have a kind of. They have a kind of a phobia of being caught under committed to their work I mean the good actors I think are who are a level or not even so much good but they've got the right attitude about it you know what I did Mission Impossible a couple years ago with Tom Cruise and I said to Tom What motivates you I mean in some way I remember Tom is mesmerizing to me in terms of his career is at the Knesset his work ethic and I said What's your thing and what should what do you what drives you now we are so many years into this and you're so. You're as a psychotic career of us what motivates you now he says I got to give them their money's worth. He said and mom both hands he said the people who write me my check and the people that are buying tickets to the film I've got to give on both ends I've got to give them their money's worth and then he does I mean you know once more hardworking that Thomas Most people who know him know that I felt that same way a lot of actors put a tremendous lengths to commit to their work as actors tremendous links. So early in your career one of things you were famous for was being you know like the leading man the really like handsome guy and you know there was recently. When you hosted Saturday Night Live in the opening monologue like you're doing a monologue and b. Davidson has not even 25 yet comes on stage and starts talking about how like handsome you used to be and how different you look now and how do you feel about it was like really feeling like I was soaked in water for 26 and he is really funny. But when you when you when you were getting started and you were kind of typed as you know as like the handsome guy was that something that was when you got older do you feel like it made a difference in your career with that we all you know we all have to deal with you know if you want to preserve that if I wanted to go to the gym and just do that I guess it was a part of me that even unconsciously I rebelled against that I was like you know I'm going to make this effort for what like to do another movie where I'm a spy with a gun tumbling out of the baggage terminal and shooting the guy you know I mean it was like sort of all of which is a great there's a lot of great things about making studio films and when you are a star at this at the top of that heap mean Hanks is the best example of someone who was called upon to do every kind of movie he does heavy drama as he does comedies he does romantic comedies he does adventure films he's a castaway he I mean he can do everything and he does well when he's very successful there's only there not a lot of guys doing that you know I mean they just aren't And so when I when they said to me Do you want to do that I wasn't offered the didn't seem that complex to me and then you know that my favorite line was even Parker from The New Yorker who wrote an article of me about me and he described me he said Mr Baldwin who resembles an n.f.l. Football player in his broadcasting years. And I thought that was a very funny description you know in the way where you kind of let yourself go and over the 10 to that grooming and that kind of self examination I guess it was a part of me that it was maybe even a form of depression you know there was some of that I mean I didn't care enough and I started to care about other things plus the really difficult thing was my divorce and my custody battle for my daughter were right around 2002 and on through about 20078 it was just a lot of more bad than good in my life and frankly a lot more bad than good I don't want to spend time on the personal controversies and yeah of course a controversial generational I don't yet but I do want to ask you about the paparazzi because my understanding is that there have been periods of your life and I don't know if this is one of them when they're kind of camped outside your door are you still in that kind of phase where there is popularity who follow you or surround your home. So there was some kind of was some out there today I think that there's they're more of to my wife me my wife is what gets clicks in magazines and sells magazines is less I think 59 year old my Today's my birthday and it's a 59 year old Happy birthday thank you. At the photographs of me are less click bait magazine so my wife they shoot her picture far more than they do me and but I think that the people who you deal with there's a way they do it if they if they keep their distance and they don't seem to be trying to intimidate you if they don't try to interview you in an uninvited way meaning. The mayor of New York the mayor of New York ex-officio is obligated to speak to the press on a moment's notice because that's part of the job in my opinion I am not obligated to speak to anybody about anything and you should keep your distance that's a rule I make. So you know when anybody gets too close I got a problem with that so I want to read a couple of things that you were quoted as saying in 2008 in The New Yorker you said I'm tired of being somebody else I spend the waking hours of my life saying things that other people think and say and do and behaving as someone else I want to be me I want to be myself 2014 in New York magazine it's goodbye to public life in the way that you try to communicate with an audience playfully like our friends beyond the work I probably have to move out of New York I just can't live in New York anymore everything I hated about l.a. Am beginning to crave like living behind a gate getting in a car minimal public interaction those things still true of how you feel are you still tired of being somebody else because it sounded like you wanted to give up and you know you said you know I'm not tired but I'm I want to do a little bit less of it like I do the podcast so much that what do you love about the podcast I said it's my own thing I'm not working for somebody else even wanted to 30 Rock that was team is thing we were kind of working for Tina and I mean it was all none of the writers ever came to me and said What do you want to do which is a good thing. They had the recipe and thank God we did what they wanted to do because it won all these awards but everybody does a thing that they're a part of then there's a thing they want to do and I want to do what I want to do I mean I work with other people it's great and I work in a what is traditionally a collaborative medium but I've done that for 35 years 37 years and what I want to do now is other things which are more that I produce so I do what I want to do I want to do that but this is something I really wanted to ask you since you interviewed a lot of people on your podcast here's the thing. Are there questions that you hate to be asked as an actor who's often interviewed that you won't ask your guest or that maybe you ask anyways because they're maybe they're actually good questions you know I mean like how to being an actor who is interviewed a lot and from the kind of interviewer you are and where you go and where you won't go well the 2 quick things about that and that is that and I'm often compared negatively to you in fact oh you know well. I rather have exactly but I'm often compared negatively to you where they'll say you know why don't you shut up and watch it should be more like Terry who's doing an interview which isn't about Terry and I'm having a conversation with people and where my experience is overlap theirs and I talk about how affects my life I really don't care and the new rule we've had a chance at new but over the last 2 seasons last season and this season again we continue to ratchet it tighter and tighter where you just cut me out. Both seen as my producer all I do when I get a draft from her and go Emily cut all that out from 12 minutes and 30 seconds to 14 that's why I won't go on and on about this and I cut myself out and out and out but my show is about appreciation I only ask people to come on the show I'm completely self determining about who is on the show I think people who I think they've got a breadth of a career I think they're probably good talkers so what happens is my show is about it's about people who I'm fascinated with or I love. And I'm unapologetic about that mean I'm practically you know robbing Peter Frampton's feet when I'm on the show with him and so in love you know I give everybody a foot rub that's the goal is for of just to relax and have a good time if you don't pressure them if you don't push them and prod them they'll tell you what they want to tell you I never push I talk to them and 20 minutes goes by and they're telling me all about who they are anyway without me having to try to snatch it from them you know I mean. That's what I do. One more question I haven't heard you as the announcer of the New York Philharmonic radio broadcasts . I know you fell in love with classical music being stuck in traffic jams in l.a. And listening to the radio do you do like an announcer voice that kind of yeah with the guy that was the booth announcer Robert Molly who was on the wor booth announcer they have the guy live in the booth in case there was a technical difficulty in the pre-digital age and Molly would say next on 1000000 Dollar Movie Barbara Stanwyck tells Gary Cooper where he can go on ball of fire and I said think oh my God And when I did the Philharmonic they'd say to me you've got to articulate because you're going to be saying names it took me it took me 40 minutes to learn how to say Christoph from Dokken and. I was really going what Christoph I say the barely as Symphonie Fantastique Christoph fund Duckman he conducts the New York Philharmonic and I always pop the word New York because I'm a marketing of something so I always go this is the Mahler 9th Symphony Laurin the zel conducts the New York Philharmonic. As I'm helping to sell the product. I'm a pitch man anyway thank you so much thank you I love your show I thank you for having me thank you for doing it. Alec Baldwin's new memoir is called Never the less he stars in the new animated movie The Boss baby this is Fresh Air. Karen stipes never knew her mom as a little girl. I remember pretty crazy. But her mom never came home she disappeared with Karen was a baby nearly 50 years later Karen begins to unravel some dark family secrets it's a horrible feeling to feel like everybody knows. You are the next. Wednesday night between 9 and 10 right after fresh air on k.c.a.l. You this week on All Things Considered when the u.s. Entered World War 1100 years ago this week the country was full of German Americans during the $850.00 s. 900000 almost a 1000000 Germans went to the United States and that's at a time when the German population was only about $40000000.00 what happened to their culture plus the effect of fentanyl on the opioid epidemic listen to all things considered every afternoon join us for all things considered at 330 every weekday afternoon on k.c.a.l. You. This is Fresh Air our jazz critic Kevin Whitehead has a review of a new e.p. By trumpeter Christian Scott a today he was born in New Orleans Upper 9th Ward and grew up involved with Mardi Gras Indian culture a family tradition early on he toured with his cousin saxophonist and Indian Chief Donald Harrison Scott a 10 day also melds jazz and hip hop beats Kevin says his new e.p. Ties all those threads together. Trumpeter Christian Scott today out to us from his e.p. The rebel that's the 1st installment in is Centennial trilogy commemorating the 1st jazz records a century ago. This is the sound of jazz some jazz and 100 years on. Ruler rebel is inflected with the looping rhythms and drum samples of contemporary hip hop but where some danceable bands get so deep in the groove the neglect the solos Scott serves up a lot of trumpet. He has what you want in a soloist a commanding personal voice and a sense of direction he can play a line to pull you along. Thanks. Christian Scott of the 4 percussionists making their own living with us. In Scott's hometown the war winds music has always had a spatial dimension in Crescent City lore sound travels back before jazz West African drumming with thunder out of Congo Square on Sunday afternoons. Later when jazz came but he bowled in blue cornet in the parks the folks said you could hear him miles away. Even now when our per band passes through the next neighborhood over you hear the sound fade in and out. It's all that heritage into his spacious mix. We mentioned that this music salutes the 1st jazz recordings 100 years ago early jazz bands tended to adjust their sound when they went into the studio not least by restraining the drummer and summer of your groups existed only on record so it's no problem this music might sound very different live. The blend of electronic percussion and West African hand puts this music in its own sonic and time traveling temporal space. Here and there Christian Scott can sound like a 21st century Herb Alpert putting trumpet and pop sensibility together and that's Ok. Here's a review of one we already heard. Thank . Every jazz lover once the music defined a younger audience look at all the people hoping lala land will help as if talk about jazz when more converts from the music itself better to go out and grab listeners by the years asked for certain Scott attorney. To borrow an old New Orleans expression he's got the kind of horn that can call the children home. Given lighted rights for point of departure and tone audio and is the author of Why Jazz he reviewed ruler rebels the new e.p. By trumpeter Christian Scott a 10 day. Tomorrow on Fresh Air Let's talk about how the next world war could start with one miscalculation now that Russia is determined to decide. The last. David Wood Pulitzer Prize winning military correspondent for The Huffington Post would also writes about how the unfilled positions in the Pentagon and State Department mean there are fewer options for managing a crisis I hope you'll join us. Producer is Danny Miller director engineers r.v. Bentham our associate producer for online media. Directs the show I'm Terry Gross. Support for n.p.r. Comes from n.p.r. Member stations and from right at home dedicated to improving the quality of life for seniors and the disabled providing in home care services ranging from personal care to meal preparation the right care right at home learn more it right at home dot net slash n.p.r. And from Scribner publisher of all the lights we cannot see Anthony doors novel about a blind French girl in a German boy whose lives collide during World War 2 all the light we cannot see now in paperback wherever books are sold from the polluted studios of California Lutheran University this is k.c.a.l. Us famine h.d. 1000 Oaks k.c.l. Usat of Barbara and k.c.a.l. M. Santa Maria San Luis Obispo with news from n.p.r. 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