Michael T. Weiss On The Tonight Show
January 24, 1997



Jay Leno:  Our next guest stars in NBC's The Pretender, which can be seen Saturdays at 9 p.m. Please welcome Michael T.Weiss.

Michael T. Weiss:  Do I have to stick my head in a vat of cheese?

JL:  No, no. You're fine. You're fine.

MTW:  I'm gonna be alright.

JL:  You know, I was talking to someone about your haircut the other day, and they defended you, saying: "No, no, you started that."

MTW:  I did.

JL:  'Cause see, Keanu Reeves has it now. And now, George Clooney's got it now.

MTW:  Who?

JL:  Oh, forget it. But now, you've had that for awhile.

MTW:  I have. I've had it for a long time.

JL:  You're still the originator of the bad haircut.

MTW:  I like to think that me and Julius Ceasar were the actual originators.

JL:  Now, where are you from, originally? I don't know a whole lot about you.







MTW:  Chicago.

JL:  Oh, Chicago. Okay, okay.

MTW:  Close to Green Bay.

JL:  So you would be Green Bay?

MTW:  Yeah, we used to go to the Bear/Packer games all the time.

JL:  Oh, so you're Packers.

MTW:  But they were Milwaukee.

JL:  So you're Packers.

MTW:  Packers. Cheese head. Yes.

JL:  Alright. My next guest, you probably will remember....

MTW:  Sorry about that, brother.

JL:  Now, you don't come from a show business family, right?

MTW:  No, not at all.

JL:  'Cause I know Chicago's the Midwest. Sometimes, you go into acting, people think, "Ew, something wrong with the boy." Were your parents like that? Were they very supportive?

MTW:  No. My Dad's in the steel business in Chicago, and he's, like, a real serious guy.

JL:  [JL takes on a midwestern accent.] So you wanna be an actor, hah?

MTW:  [MTW imitates his Dad's accent] You wanna be an actor? Are you crazy? When are you gonna make a living? [He drops the accent.] So, he's very, you know....

JL:  Were they really that way? Did they think you were nuts?

MTW:  They thought I was a little nuts, but they're very supportive, wonderful people. So, they were great.

JL:  I mean, were they--did you do plays and things like that, or just film? And did they come to your....

MTW:  They came to every bad piece of theater I ever did.

JL:  Oh, well that's nice.

MTW:  Every experimental play. Actually, once I was doing a play up in northern California, a really experimental piece where we had to get naked.

JL:  Experimental piece where you had to get naked. Well.

MTW:  I was naked.

JL:  What was the play?

MTW:  It was Hair.

JL:  Oh, Hair. Okay, sure.

MTW:  We were naked on stage, which is very, you know, refreshing as an actor.

JL:  Right.

MTW:  And we're under this big tarp. Kinda breezy. And we're under this big parachute getting naked and taking off our clothes. And I stand up, and in the front row, there's my Mom and Dad. Hi Dad. Hi Ma. My Dad's like, "Yeah, that's my boy." You know?

JL:  I'm sure Dad enjoyed some of the other performers, though. Now, did they say anything afterwards? Son, let me ask you about this acting thing? Did they ever mention it?

MTW:  Ah, no. They never mentioned it.

JL:  They never mentioned it?

MTW:  But my Dad's had a grin on his face ever since: "That's my boy."

JL:  Now, were you a good kid? Were you a good student? Were you a good kid, or were you a wild kid?

MTW:  You know, I had my hellion moments. I did. I was a good kid, I think. But, you know, my Dad probably would disagree.

JL:  Yeah, I mean, did you get in trouble in school? Were you a troublesome student?

MTW:  We used to cut class every, you know, waking minute. Anytime you could possibly cut class, that was a good thing.

JL:  Big party guy?





MTW:  Well, you know, I had a few parties. When my parents were out of town, I invited everyone over. When I was invited to prom--you know, I went to prom with this girl, who was all pretty and all dressed up and spent thousands of dollars on her dress. And she was all very excited, and everybody brought a ball of liquor. And in those days, I didn't know you weren't supposed to mix tequila, and vodka, and gin, and wine, and beer in, like, 15 minutes. So, I puked on Kendall Johnson.

JL:  All over her dress?

MTW:  All over her dress.

JL:  Oh, isn't that lovely.

MTW:  It's a lovely story, isn't it? That's a date magnet, Jay. You know, if you wanna get dates, that's a good way to, you know....

JL:  Now, let me ask you something. I'm going through your biography, and I see you're in the movie Ordinary People.

MTW:  Yes.

JL:  Now, that was an Academy Award winning film, right?

MTW:  Yes, it was.

JL:  I said: "Well, this guy, gee, I guess this isn't the first thing he's done. He was in Ordinary People." I figured, you know, I saw Ordinary People. You know, it started to stick in my craw, 'cause I know sometimes actors exaggerate. Wouldn't you say?

MTW:  Well, we need to get work mostly.

JL:  I know. But, didn't Timothy Hutton win Best Actor? It won Best Picture. Robert Redford. I think: "Gee, this guy's in the movie." So, I said to someone, "Get me the movie." I watched the movie, and I couldn't find you. Then I looked at the credits, and what I found was--I finally found you, and you know, you were, like, you were in the movie. No, and I wanna show people. I think this is a pivotal scene. I think this is the part where you make the film, where you stand out as an actor. This is on his resume: Ordinary People, Academy Award winning. I'm looking, and I'm going, "Wow, this guy's done some stuff." I want you to look for Michael. Here we go. Show the scene.

[The film clip rolls.]

JL:  We're gonna freeze it. Okay, and can we circle where he is? That's you there. That's it. That's all. That's your whole scene. That's it. That was the whole movie, wasn't it?

MTW:  You want me to remind you of those chip commercials?

JL:  No, thank you very much. Did you even meet Robert Redford? Did you even get to meet him?

MTW:  I was very excited to get that job. I made thirty dollars.

JL:  Was it thirty dollars?

MTW:  I made thirty dollars, you know, I stood outside in the freezing cold for twelve hours.

JL:  Really? Just for that one little scene?

MTW:  But I knew I wanted to be an actor.

JL:  Well, there you go. And Robert Redford, did he direct you?

MTW:  He did. He said: "Move over there. Good."

JL:  That's okay. That's okay. Well, let's talk about your show now, for folks that haven't seen it. Explain exactly what happened.

MTW:  Um, I'm doing a show called The Pretender, where I play a child prodigy who was kidknapped by this nefarious group called the Centre, who raise me in sub-level 5 underneath this place--

JL:  Sub-level 5?

MTW:  Yeah, sub-level 5. Or 6, I don't know. And they exploited my genius for years, and picked my brain, and used it for nefarious means. And I finally realize that they're really doing ill-doing, and I escape, at 30. And I'm new to the world, a fish out of water. I'm just looking at the planet for the first time.

JL:  But you play--you assume the identity of what? Almost anyone?

MTW:  Anybody. I can become any profession. I could be a talk show host next.

JL:  Wow.

MTW:  And each week, I use my abilities to help save an innocent life.

JL:  Have you ever played a woman on the show, or do you just play guys?

MTW:  Not yet.

JL:  I don't know. You could play anybody. Dennis Rodman does it. He could play a genius. Well, let's show--let's have a clip. Here's a clip from The Pretender. Let's take a look.

[A clip from The Flyer episode rolls.]

JL:  You have a birthday coming up, right?

MTW:  I do.

JL:  When is your birthday? Next week?

MTW:  Uh, my birthday's February 2nd.

JL:  Okay, so what are you doing? Are you doing anything big?

MTW:  Well, my horoscope said that I'll be lucky in love and lucky at cards. So, I'm taking all my friends and family to Vegas.

JL:  You're gonna be in Vegas next week? Oh, when we'll be there, too.

MTW:  Hey!

JL:  Come by. Come by and say hello.

MTW:  I will.

JL:  Will you come back and see us again?

MTW:  I absolutely will.

JL:  Congratulations on your show. You did a great job.