PodCo has something new every day of the week, but Fridays are a day to reconnect with the boys. By that, I mean the Lawrence Brothers, who can be heard at the end of each week on Brotherly Love Podcast. I had the pleasure of speaking with Joey, Matthew, and Andy while they were there to promote the show.
(ATX/Michelle Maurin)
Alex: Congratulations on the success of Brotherly Love Pod. I grew up watching Brotherly Love, the TV show. I have brothers myself. We don't always talk as much as we did when we were kids. Has this forced you guys to be closer in some ways?
Joey: We've always been super close, but this has been really cool to get back together like this in a work capacity. And it's inspired us to really do a lot of things together again, but as men, and it's been really, really, really great. Been really great. Yeah.
Matt: Yeah, it's great to have the set schedule, to have, to sit down and have a conversation. It's actually been really fun.
Andy: Well, we were so blessed as kids to be able to always work together, but when you start adulting, life takes you separate directions. So this is a good excuse for all of us to hang out and get around a table and have some conversations.
Alex: I remember I n the 90's and early 2000's, you all had your own things going, but there were a few projects that brought you back together. Brotherly Love, Horse Sense, Jumping Ship. Was your dynamic different at home versus at work?
Joey: We just grew up that way, so it was kind of second nature.
Matt: Yeah. It's actually really neat with the Pod in particular, being able to truly be ourselves. I think that's what people are finding interesting. How we relate in real life is not like how we're related on the show. So that's been eye-opening, I think, for a lot of people and it's been really cathartic for us. It's been really fun to be able to do that. And it's genuine. I mean, there's no editing. It's just kind of what you see is what you get. And I think that's been the reason why people have been receiving it so well, because there's no spin to it, really. Not at all. You know?
Alex: A Lot of the other podcasts that are here today from PodCo are rewatch shows. Will you ever go back and rewatch Brotherly Love?
Andy: So we will, yeah. One of the big things that really interested us was having a real organic sort of escapism for the audience. Putting too much structure sterilizes the conversation, and we don't want that to happen. Nothing's off the table for us though. We'll have guests from fans, friends, old work colleagues. We've talked about doing re-watches, exploring specific scenes, like favorite scenes from favorite movies was one of Matt's ideas. So we're going to get into all that. Yeah, nothing is off the table.
Joey: We have the ability to be very nimble as a pod, you know? To go anywhere that we want to and explore any avenue that we feel would be interesting. So yeah, there's a lot of opportunity coming up. There's some reunions that we're going to work on. A lot of things, but we don't necessarily have to start episode one and take it through episode 100. That's very linear and very confining like Andy said. So we're really excited that creatively we could be much more expansive than that.
Alex: When you were off on projects without your brothers, such as Blossom, Boy Meets World, and The Other Me, did you feel pulled apart at all?
Andy: Not really. I mean I think that, I don't know, it just took… Honestly, we purposely didn't work together for a while. Just because, I mean, not in personal life. We were always together, but just professionally.
Matt: I think when you grow up like that, you look for a little bit of self validation as an adult. It's all meaningless, but it's just something you think about when you're making those transitions. So it was nice for all of us to know that we have our own little things going on, but we quickly realized, "man, we just wish we were doing it together." And then becoming adults. That's the purpose. That's the goal now. Let's just try to get as much stuff going together as possible. We love each other. There's nobody else that we'd rather do it with. At this point in life, it's just a hell of a lot more fun.
Joey: And there's a comfortability out of there between the three of us that just, like I said, at this point, after all these years, that's what you want. You know? It's almost like playing for a new team every time, and that just gets old.
Matt: If the '96 Bulls could come back, they would. You know what I mean?
Joey: Yeah. No, but you wonder why people like Michael said, "Look, if you're not bringing back Phil, then I'm out." And Kobe said the same thing, "I'm not going to play for anybody else really at this point. I'm sort of done." That's how we feel. I don't want to relearn a system. It's just such a great shorthand here and so much fun. And we're just getting started really. In this fast and producing and directing and acting and being in things like this, it's really neat. It's really neat. And the Pod is up. A whole different avenue that's been really creatively fun too.
Alex: We’ve seen a lot of celebrity families in entertainment have a resurgence in media. If the right series or project came along, is that something you guys are interested in?
Joey: Yeah. This was sort of our reality show, right? But the scripted stuff, for sure, we are working on something that's very, very exciting in the scripted space that will bring us back together again. But in a whole different way and very edgy and very funny and very organic and real. Not like Blasphemous in any way, but just really cool. It feels right, but grown and edgy. We're grown up, so that's what it is. But it is fun. It really is fun. So we're excited about that. And we got a lot of movies too that we're doing, again, in all kind of ways. Whether we're just producing or Andy's directing, whether one of us are in it or not. There's a whole bunch of iteration of that going around and it's really fun.
Alex: Anything specific on the horizon?
Andy: We did a movie for Amazon called Mistletoe Mixup that was pretty successful in 2021. It's a Christmas movie and we just finished the sequel. It'll be out this year on Amazon, Mistletoe Mixup 2. It's really fun, we're all three in it and going on road trips. It's really good. It's a really fun family Christmas comedy. And then lots of stuff, action…
Joey: Yeah, we're doing an action movie actually for Tubi. I've done a movie for Tubi. I wrote a script for Tubi called Frankie Meets Jack, a romantic comedy that Andy directed. We produced it. Did really well. So we're doing a big action movie for them as well. We're all going to write. Andy's going to direct. Matt and I are going to produce, so I'm going to be in it. It's going to be cool.
Alex: It's really cool that you guys have found that niche of being creatives behind the camera and in front of the camera.
Joey: Yeah, we're just getting started, man. We got to give the Russo brothers a run for their money.
Alex: Looking back, were there any people you worked with who inspired you to get creative off screen?
Joey: Honestly, people always ask me, "Who's your favorite director? What's the favorite project that you've done?" I don't think I've done any of those things yet. I don't know whether I ever will. I don't know. Because I'm getting a little long in the tooth. But I mean, we've worked with a lot of cool people. A lot of cool people. But I think that one defining moment when, I know I was listening to Leo talk about it. When he worked with Scorsese for the first time, he said, "That was hands down the greatest experience ever." And he said that was really something meaningful. I work with a lot of great people, but I don't think I've had that one that changed my entire life, that moment. Looking forward to that. Although Andy's a pretty good director.
Andy: Thank you.
Matt: That's what you're supposed to say. "Working with this guy."
Joey: "Working with this guy." No, it's true. No, he's great. There's a lot left to be accomplished, and I think we're excited about that challenge and we'll see how far it goes. I don't know what the plan is, but we're going to work our asses off and see how far we can take this thing.
Andy: I've been blessed to cross paths with so many great directors and producers and writers. I mean, jeez, Steve Levetan, great. Gillespie. I mean, it goes on and on. Spielberg. I mean, if I went through the whole list I would be here forever.
Joey: Yeah. No and Matt's worked with Christopher Columbus.
Matt: Christopher Columbus. Robin Williams, I mean, just the best of the best.
Joey: Yeah. I worked with Carl Reiner, and John Candy, and Sammy Davis Jr., Milton Berle, Bob Hope. There's a lot of people, but there's that one that'll hit you where you go, "Wow, that changed everything." John Travolta says it. He worked with all these directors, but Pulp Fiction, working with Quentin Tarantino just changed his whole life. That was one of the greatest breaks they ever had. Everybody gets one. John had been doing it for 35 years before he had that moment too. And at a much different level than I've ever done it. I think if you keep going long enough, maybe that lightning in a bottle will happen.
Alex: When you guys were younger and all off on different projects, how did your parents balance that?
Joey: They split up. One would go with another.
Andy: And then they ended up splitting up.
Joey: Then they ended up splitting up, so maybe that didn't work out too well. But yeah.
Matt: It was tough, is the point.
Joey: It was really tough.
Matt: It was really tough on a family unit, because we were both working and then all three working in it.
Joey: Their sacrifice was massive, and they didn't even know it in the thick of it. But splintering a family and having lots of responsibilities and the entertainment industry is wacky. We weren't cut from that cloth. We we're a very blue-collar family from Philadelphia. My dad sells insurance. Mom's a teacher. So we were thrown into the thick of it. But my parents are super supportive. I love them to death. I have a great relationship with both of our parents.
Joey: Yeah, yeah. We all do. It's great.
Matt: We're very blessed to have a wonderful family. But it was tough.
Alex: Did the timeframe of your parents having that fracture overlap with Mrs. Doubtfire?
Matt: It was during that time, yeah. When, like I said, the work really went crazy, and we were always fragmented for a couple years. Two or three years-
Joey: You have to water every relationship, no matter what. If it's not getting water, things go awry.
Matt: Our parents definitely put us and our careers over their own relationship. And I'm very thankful, but I'm also-
Joey: I feel terrible.
Matt: So it's a blessing and a curse, but it is what it is.
Alex: Well, and it happens to many families who aren’t in the industry.
Joey: Yeah, it's not because of us. Yeah. I don't blame Hollywood. I don't distort. It could have happened in any situation, and I still feel very blessed.
Alex: I grew up with Oliver and Company, but it wasn’t until I was older that I realized Joey voiced Oliver. Do you have any memories of recording your lines?
Joe: I do remember it very vividly, because I was 10. I vividly remember that movie. It took a long time to do it. Didn't come out until I think '89. And to this day, Katzenberg says that it was the movie that really saved Disney animation because they were on a precipice of these movies not working. Katzenberg was like, "Let me just see if I can get this all-star cast. They got Huey Lewis to do the music, and Billy Joel, Bette Midler. Cheech Marin and all these people. It was incredible. So when we went in to record, I remember Billy Joel and singing with him and Huey Lewis. I was in the studio with those guys. And Katzenberg, to this day says, "If that movie had not been a success, no Little Mermaid.” They had that on the deck. Wouldn't have come out. They were not going to finish any of them. Because that movie exploded at the box office, it paved the way for that epic run, which re-cemented Disney's icon animation status and paved the way for Aladdin. Everything, next 10 years. I remember that it took so long to do it, because they were all hand-drawn still back then. We started in '86. By the time we were done with the movie mid '87, my voice had started to change, and I had already started to speak very high for that cat. So it was really difficult the last two or three sessions because I had no way to get back up there, and I had to do it. It was really weird. So I remember the pressure of doing that. We'd take several takes during my last two or three audio sessions because we would do it, and then they'd animate it. We would do it, they'd animate it. Took forever.
Alex: Amazing. Thank you all so much for your time. Congratulations again on the success of your podcast.
New episodes of Brotherly Love Podcast release on Fridays on all major podcast platforms. You can also watch the brothers record on YouTube.