PodCo taps into your Nickelodeon nostalgia every Wednesday with the rewatch podcast Ned's Declassified Podcast Survival Guide. I got to sit with Devon Werkheiser (Ned Bigby), Lindsey Shaw (Jennifer "Moze" Mosely), and Daniel Lee Curtis (Simon "Cookie" Nelson-Cook) at ATX TV Fest to talk about what it’s like rewatching the show and the fun shenanigans they still get up to. We also touch on the Disney Channel rivalry, and Devon and Lindsey learn about some of the cool things Daniel got to do when he was on Zeke and Luther.
(ATX/Michelle Maurin)
Alex: Before this podcast, how long had it been since you all got together?
Lindsey: Like a full child support child.
Devon: Yeah. Like 15 Years?
Daniel: 18? 15? 18 years.
Devon: 15 years. Daniel and I had hung out. Daniel and I had actually, like…
Daniel: A lot of partying.
Devon: Well, yeah, Daniel and I partied a lot as teenagers. We also had a pilot that we made in our mid-twenties.
Daniel: Oh yeah. Made a pilot. Dev and Dan go to go college.
Lindsey: It was actually very good. I wanted to hate it. It was very good. I wasn't in touch with them, so…
Alex: Is it available anywhere?
Devon: Nowhere.
Lindsey: It needs to be!
Devon: We'll put it on our Nedspod Patreon. But we've been in and out of each other's lives, but not any… This is it, man.
Daniel: Yeah. This has been some glue to make things stick a little.
Devon: Yeah. So 15 years. And since the three of us got into a space together, man? 18 years.
Alex: It’s gotta be a little similar to a high school reunion. You grow, you change, and then you come back together, and sometimes that’s weird. Has it been surprising to you the way you’ve all grown?
Lindsey: I'm like, look at this revenge body! You know, it has been interesting, just because you have this version of them that you know, and then to realize that they grew up and had life happen to them was really nice. Having an intimate conversation with them. We probably had one of those, but it was really, really sweet. We all really paid our dues personally for whatever kind of arc that we were finishing on our own. And then to come back together. It is such a crazy full circle. It feels like we're all in that energy of when we started Ned’s, which is super playful. And I think we had to get kind of knocked out of our adult whatever to be able to be this playful again with each other.
Devon: Life's weird how it works. It worked out perfectly that we actually had as much space as we did before this podcast because we have so much to catch up on as friends. But that's most of the podcast, it's us telling each other stories from our lives that we weren't there for. It's great. We got 20 years of [stuff] to talk about. I'm glad because so far we haven't run out.
Lindsey: I'm fearing that. But it hasn't happened yet. And I'm going to just start making things up.
Alex: One of the reasons I love rewatch podcasts is because when actors are making the show, they’re so focused on their performance that they sometimes miss things. You learn that someone else was struggling with something, or maybe you never watched the show and didn’t see scenes you weren’t in. Is there anything you’ve learned about each other through rewatching the show?
Devon: We learned Lindsey was insecure about her childhood mustache.
Lindsey: I was super insecure about a lot of stuff that just… The show still had to go on. You know what I'm saying? And I still had to walk out a beast, and I did.
Daniel: And you did. That's what matters.
Devon: Yeah. I feel like some things have popped up where I was like, oh, what?
Daniel: That explains everything.
Devon: I forgot about, how… I don't know, [stuff] with makeup and… Things have popped up.
Lindsey: I mean, I know that we've… I don't know that I…
Daniel: Only the side hug thing, I'm sure, for me.
Lindsey: Oh yeah.
Daniel: It's like, oh, that's why he only gave side hugs.
Lindsey: He only would approach me…
Devon: From the side.
Lindsey: And hold his head out.
Daniel: And it's because puberty was happening.
Lindsey: And I was just always like, please!
Devon: Give me affection!
Lindsey: Yes. I really was like that. Yeah. But it's crazy because I feel closest with Daniel now that I don't think our younger selves were able to achieve.
Devon: As children. I was the bridge. I forgot that. This has reminded me. I forgot. We were all in the schoolroom together. We were all working together all the time. They were around each other. But there was no merging.
Lindsey: There was no connection.
Daniel: He was like the nucleus, we were like the electron and proton.
Devon: Yeah. That. I was bonded with both of you deeply. And then I forgot that Lindsay was like, love me, Daniel. And Daniel was like, no.
Daniel: I'm cold, in a way.
Lindsey: He was so freaking aloof. Even as a kid.
Devon: Yeah. You were an aloof boy, man.
Daniel: Just here to work. I'm here to work.
Alex: I've talked to many Disney Channel stars, but I haven't talked to many Nickelodeon stars. I’ve heard that Disney Channel would do cool things for their child actors, like throw them a prom party. Did Nickelodeon do similar things to try to give you those experiences you might’ve missed since you were working?
Daniel: There were some Nick games we did.
Devon: They did Nick games. We used to go to events… They would do these things. I can't remember. They're in the recesses of my mind.
Daniel: Yeah, but not like Disney. 'Cause when I went to Disney, I remember they had Friends for Change, where we would all go to Washington DC and try to do clean-ups.
Lindsey: Oh my god. How many extracurricular trips did you do?
Daniel: Oh, so many. Yeah, so right after we finished, I think a year after…
Devon: He did Zeke and Luther, a show on Disney XD.
Daniel: Yeah. I got both of the little experiences.
Devon: You got the Disneyland hookup. You got the Disneyland marketing.
Lindsey: Wait, stop. Are you serious?
Daniel: Disneyland. The free tickets. And also, you get to cut every line, bro.
Devon: If you're on Disney, they hook it up.
Daniel: It was also Disney World.
Alex: They have to give you a VIP guide, right?
Daniel: Yep.
Devon: Not us.
Daniel: Sorry.
Alex: Maybe they let you go to the Mall of America? They had that Nickelodeon park for a while.
Devon: We went to King's Island in Ohio.
Lindsey: I remember that! That was so fun. I have the cutest picture of us all from there. Daniel's holding his ball, and Devon…
Devon: What was I doing?
Lindsey: You were like squeezing my face.
Devon: Oh, that makes sense. Yeah. Occasionally, actually, someone from Nick or some fan posts on Instagram a photo and I'm like, Romeo's there. And Emma Roberts is there and…
Daniel: I'm like, where was this?
Devon: Where was this? So I think events happened.
Lindsey: Daniel, were you there when we did that big slime party?
Daniel: Slime party?
Lindsey: We were all in white?
Devon: Oh yeah, all in white.
Lindsey: Were you there?
Daniel: No.
Devon: No, that was you and me. It was only a couple of us from each show.
Daniel: Yeah. I wasn't there.
Devon: Sorry, bud.
Lindsey: That was not cool.
Devon: It was not cool.
Daniel: I remember, because then Kyle Massey had a food fight white party or something that I went to.
Devon: Oh, that was different. I went to that too.
Daniel: You were there, yeah.
Lindsey: Well, I wasn't.
Devon: But Lindsay wasn't at that, so…
Lindsey: So there you go.
Devon: It all evens out.
Lindsey: It's even.
Alex: I’ve always imagined that if you’re on a Nickelodeon show, you must get slimed all the time. Did you?
Lindsey: Oddly, you get slimed very, very seldom.
Devon: Less than you would think. My favorite slime instance was they had these Nickelodeon Games. They had dodgeball with slime. There was a trough of slime where you dunked the dodgeballs in slime. This had celebrities, this had regular children.
Daniel: So Tony Hawk was there.
Devon: Mm-hm. This was my favorite thing with slime. The dodgeballs were foam. They would get heavy with slime. Again, celebrities and children. Tony Hawk's there. Tony Hawk, a grown man. Athlete. Wingspan of a [freaking] condor. Eight-foot wingspan. This man took a heavy slime dodgeball, fully wound up 40 miles an hour. Hit a child, a regular child. Girl. Little girl. In the face with a dodgeball. And that memory is my favorite slime memory. It's seared into my brain. He just blasted a child, dude.
Alex: Does it play in slow motion in your head?
Devon: It literally does.
Lindsey: Did she start crying?
Devon: She held it. She did it like a champ. But she got wounded. But she didn't cry. She's like, thanks, Tony Hawk! Big fan! But I was on his team. So I do have it burned in my head in slow-mo because I was watching it from the perfect angle. I saw it all happen before my eyes. I was blessed. Favorite slime memory.
Daniel: And we're in the lead!
Devon: I am competitive. I was like, yeah, Tony,
Alex: Obviously, this is a Ned’s Declassified rewatch podcast. But what happens when you run out of episodes? Will you switch to a Zeke and Luther rewatch?
Lindsey: Never!
Daniel: I would shoot it… They won't let me leave, they won't let me leave!
Devon: Never!
Daniel: You know what, I spoke with Brendan [Rooney, PodCo CEO], because we had Hutch [Dano] come on. I produced a movie that Hutch directed starring Lindsay Shaw, myself, a bunch of other people.
Lindsey: But you two together have an energy
Devon: You and Hutch is a vibe.
Daniel: Hutch just has great banter. I love letting him talk, and I'll throw some stuff in there to help him go on his little tangents.
Lindsey: Hutch is great, yeah.
Devon: So maybe?
Daniel: You never know. I spoke with Brendan about the possibility of doing it. One of our other cast members, he is a little problematic. We'll see if he can get him or not.
Devon: He's out of jail now.
Lindsey: Right. He needs a job. I'm sure. Report back to that parole officer.
Devon: But honestly, after we run out of episodes, we'll just keep going.
Lindsey: We'll start taking our clothes off.
Daniel: Well, that.
Lindsey: Not a big deal.
Alex: For Patreon only, though.
Devon: That's right. Behind the pay wall.
Lindsey: Top tier.
Devon: You know business.
Devon: I think we'll just keep talking and bringing guests on just from life, you know?
Lindsey: Some of my favorite guests that we've had have not been from the show.
Devon: Yeah. We haven't heard these yet.
Lindsey: Just getting to know people adjacent to the Disney/Nick machine at that time. It's really, really cool.
Devon: So I feel like we'll just do that. We'll just turn it into a pod-pod.
Daniel: I can see us evolving into just a pod-pod and just continuing to use our chemistry to amplify the energy of people who have something to say about the world.
Alex: You were all child actors, so maybe you never got starstruck. But was there anybody that you got to work with that you were in awe of?
Lindsey: Yeah. So I was working on Pretty Little Liars. I loved Charmed as a kid. But it wasn't just Charmed, it was this particular character of Piper… Holly Marie comes. She was my number one from the beginning. Oh my God. So she was playing one of the moms on Pretty Little Liars. And she was on set across from me one day, and I just watched her. I just watched her for the first full day that I was on set. I didn't even introduce myself. I was like, wow. And then the second time I saw her on set, I just walked up there to be like, I'm such a huge fan. You know what I mean? So it was huge. It was a big moment. I mean, I still gush every time I see it.
Daniel: I got to play basketball with Michelle Obama. I thought that was dope.
Devon: Excuse me?
Lindsey: What?
Daniel: Yeah. And it's on film. She dunked on me.
Lindsey: Wait, what?
Daniel: That was a vibe for me. I thought that was really cool.
Devon: That's incredible.
Daniel: Secret Service had to come out and check us all, and do background checks.
Devon: I don't know about celebrities, I just got dunked on by Michelle Obama.
Devon: Damn, Daniel. And you just got to work with Snoop. That had to be cool.
Daniel: Yeah, that was awesome. Snoop was real, I got to direct Snoop.
Devon: In a music video.
Daniel: So I actually tell him how to deliver his little role, and it was great. He's a legend.
Devon: There have been people I've been stoked to meet. You do get demystified when you grow up in it because you know it's just people, but if you love and respect someone's work, there's a bubbling there. I met Vigo Mortenson. I was a schoolgirl. I couldn't speak. Lord of the Rings is my favorite. And him as an artist, the stories of him on Lord of the Rings. He is the artist I dream to be. So meeting him was huge. Honestly. Working with Method Man. Being around Method Man was the coolest thing in the world. He is, for me, the top MC ever. Legend. Also a great actor, a cool human to be around. Just being around him was crazy. I was stoked. So it happens.
Alex: That’s awesome! Thank you so much for your time. I appreciate it. Congratulations on all the success with the podcast.
New episodes of Ned's Declassified Podcast Survival Guide drop on Wednesdays wherever you listen to podcasts. You can get a visual when you experience the podcast on YouTube.