Podcast Transcript
Intro:
Welcome to Takin A Walk, an excursion to converse, connect, and catch up at a cool location with some of the most interesting people you can find.
Steve Sweeney:
Hey, this is Steve Sweeney. I am taking a walk with my old boss and friend, Buzz Knight. And this podcast, you can get it on Spotify and Apple and … I don’t know where else we get it. But he’ll tell you where.
Buzz Knight:
Steve Sweeney, it is so good to be here taking a walk with you and so great to see you.
Steve Sweeney:
Yeah. We’re taking a walk at Fresh Pond in Cambridge. Now the reason I picked this, we could have walked in Charlestown, but we’d have to duck the gunfire and so forth. No, I’m kidding. So Charlestown is where I actually grew up, which I love. My imagination, where we are in Fresh Pond, Cambridge, was actually the country to me. And I used to come over here, the young guy, maybe 16, 17, 18 and it was the hippie era, and my life was full of dreams. And I’ve always had a great connection to this Fresh Pond. So that’s why we’re here. Sometimes I still come over and run. But as I get older, the track here looks longer and longer. But as you can see, it’s very beautiful, quiet, peaceful, and I love it.
Buzz Knight:
It is. It’s a great spot. I have driven by this area many times before, commuting, that dreadful word, commuting, which I don’t miss, which we can talk about. But I’ve never walked here. So I’m really appreciative to be taking a walk with you here.
Steve Sweeney:
Well, I want to go back with you. I remember when I got the call, I was doing stand up comedy and acting, which is how I began anyway. But I had done a lot of guest shots on Jerry Williams and so on. And I got the call from you. And Charles Laquidara, who was a radio legend. And you called me to do a show with Tai. I’ll never forget it. It was so exciting. And then we practice the show. And then about a month before we were going to do it, he said, “By the way, is it going to be a problem getting up a quarter to four?” And of course, you want the job and it’s exciting to do radio. And of course you say no. But in my mind, I’m saying, “Holy shit. He’s got to be kidding.”
Steve Sweeney:
I managed to like do it. I have to say, I never got actually used to it. And then I asked Loren and Wally over your other station, ROR. And I was on the air maybe four years doing morning radio, and I said to them … At the time, they were doing it 20 years. And I said, “When do you get used to this?” And they both said they never got used to it?
Buzz Knight:
Yes.
Steve Sweeney:
Isn’t that amazing?
Buzz Knight:
Yeah. I took a walk with Wally at Walden Pond, and he still gets up early in the morning. He doesn’t get up at 4:00 in the morning, but he gets up at 6:00 in the morning. His body clock doesn’t allow him to sleep.
Steve Sweeney:
I got to tell you because I have so many great memories of that show. But I remember like the highlight of my week, even though I loved doing the show, was Saturday because I’d look at the clock and it was like 4:00 and I’d say, “I don’t have to get up.” And it was like ecstasy. It really was. It was like the greatest thing. Do you play golf?
Buzz Knight:
I’ve never played golf in my life, believe it or not.
Steve Sweeney:
It’s like you enjoy golf more when you have a job and whatever your leisure activity is. But sleep was a real issue. But for me being a recovering person, it was a real triumph for me because I’m coming up on like 30 years of being clean and sober. What I used to say is, like in my cocaine years I’d say … Quarter to 4:00, I would be up but I’m not getting up. I would be up. But I can’t imagine like going in there and then you can’t speak then you can speak and your jaw is all over the place. So it’s like a real … That was the biggest challenge, getting up. But I have so many great memories of doing morning radio.
Steve Sweeney:
One of the great interviews was I got to interview Carlos Santana, and at the end, he was supposed to say, you listen to Sweeney’s neighborhood. And it was so funny, Buzz. I said, “Okay. You have to say, this is Sweeney’s neighborhood.” He said, “Okay. Dweeney neighborhood. “No, I said Sweeney.” “Okay. Dweeney neighborhood. I said, “No. Sweeney.” “Yeah. Dweeney.” And then another interview I remember, I was interviewing kind of my heroes. So I interviewed Mark Knopfler. And I said, “Listen to this lyric, this is great.” Whatever. And he says, “Yeah, that’s not bad.” I said, “Mark, you wrote it.” But I guess that’s what happens with these guys. They write so much great music and sometimes they forget.
Steve Sweeney:
Like, I have people tell me about lines that I wrote, I say, “That’s a good line.” They say, “Well, that’s you. You wrote it 20 years ago.” But I come over here, and I’ve been able, Buzz, to 40 years work like in creative work like acting or writing, stand up or radio, whatever. I mean, it’s been an amazing thing. I got addicted to being creative and to be able to have made living doing it. It’s just remarkable.
Buzz Knight:
So when did you first really discover that that’s where your heart was, the creative path? What was the light that went on that signified that you knew you were headed that way?
Steve Sweeney:
When I was 19, my brother called me. I’d never acted before. And my brother was an actor up at Smith College. And I went up and I got on stage and I started emoting. Now, young actors think they’re acting when they’re emoting, but there’s no craft involved. So it’s like you’re doing Macbeth and I get that horrible Boston accent, you know. Is that a dagger that I see before me? You got kids, have you ever had to go to a school play?
Buzz Knight:
Sure.
Steve Sweeney:
It’s just awful. Usually.
Buzz Knight:
Yeah, usually.
Steve Sweeney:
You agree?
Buzz Knight:
Yeah, I do.
Steve Sweeney:
But I love the whole thing of theater being part of it, and then I became a doorman at the Shubert in the Colonial and I got to see these great artists. I think the greatest moments for me … I think that’s my real love is theater. I love it all but theater the most. I was able to see people on stage that would just … I saw Richard Burton do Equus, Christopher Plummer do One Man Show, John Barrymore. And the thing that inspired me to do one person shows was Lily Tomlin, One Woman Show, Gilda Radner. Jack Lemmon, I was the doorman for Jack Lemmon. He did a play, something My Father’s, whatever it was, and he was remarkable.
Steve Sweeney:
You never really see an actor till you see them on stage. Just like a comedian. You see him on TV, that’s not it. But after the play, he would come up and play the piano and just all these beautiful people. There was a play called The King and I, Yul Brenner, he was like a complete prick.
Buzz Knight:
Really?
Steve Sweeney:
Yeah. A big voice. Originally, started in the circus and he had all these superstitions. So the whole theater had to be painted brown and you’d never whistle in the theater and breaking everybody’s balls. So the stagehands would go by his dressing room and whistle, who is whistling? And all this shit. But it was such a wonderful world. I love being from Charlestown, but theater really opened up this whole world for me. So I think that’s where I got the bug.
Buzz Knight:
Do you remember the first time somebody told you a story? Because you’re such an amazing storyteller that you must have been influenced by someone in that regard.
Steve Sweeney:
Yeah. You know what, I’ll never forget this guy from Charlestown. This is the hippie era. He was traveling all over the world. And he was in Afghanistan before there was all these wars and everything. And he got a carpet, and he kind of like smuggled it into Europe. And they said, this thing is priceless. I mean, stories. Oh, my god. I remember stories of … I’ve always had a family associated with crime and like, how did they pull this off? How do they pull that off? And I hear stories of bank robberies and Charlestown, I was kind of fascinated with that. Just saw all kinds of funny stories.
Steve Sweeney:
When I grew up in Charlestown, those guys like “Shorty” Sullivan and “Nippy” Nolan and [Kyleigh O’Donnell], they would play softball and dive into home play and everything, and he’d hear the story of the game and as a kid, that was as big as Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, whatever, sports stories, crime stories, traveling stories. Ray McLaughlin, who was the stage manager of the Boston Symphony, I worked as a stagehand for a while. This is many years ago, they went to China. And he would just stand on a corner. He’s a white Irish guy, and he said a thousand people would form around him, they’d never seen a white guy. How about you? You’re interested in stories.
Buzz Knight:
Yeah. I feel like stories start really with parents telling stories. And many times, these are things that are passed through generations before them and they’re always stories that certainly, there’s poetic license put in to make them a bit more crazy or funny. But I think storytelling-
Steve Sweeney:
Where did you grow up?
Buzz Knight:
I grew up in Stamford, Connecticut.
Steve Sweeney:
Okay. What were the stories your parents told you?
Buzz Knight:
Well, they would usually be stories like, for example, my uncle-
Steve Sweeney:
Family, stories of the family. That’s great.
Buzz Knight:
Yeah. And Uncle Fred, actually, he would tell a story about this coworker of his named Big Red Wilson. Okay. He would always talk about Big Red, but the story was always how Big Red could fall asleep anywhere.
Steve Sweeney:
Yeah. That’s interesting.
Buzz Knight:
“Big Red,” he said, “he actually, I swear to God, he would fall asleep standing up.” And that’s not true but it just paints a picture that you never forget. So I think at the heart of stories come where parents sort of passed them down, I guess. Now were your parents funny?
Steve Sweeney:
Yeah, no, I don’t know. Sometimes my mother was funny and she didn’t know she was funny. She would talk about us while we were sitting there. She’d say, “I’m not going to clean, let them clean. Jesus, let them cook. I’m not cooking. Let them eat the potato salad.” And we’re sitting there. She’s talking about us.
Buzz Knight:
Yeah.
Steve Sweeney:
But one of the stories that really got me about my mother, my mother, like your mother lived to 102. And she said her mother and other people in Ireland, she kind of like didn’t know how to tell a story, but she would give me the facts. She said, “They wouldn’t even let us learn English and all this stuff about growing up in Ireland. But the county she came from was Cork, which produced by percentage, the most guys in the Irish revolution/rebellion. So there was a lot of hidden stuff. But boy, when I went to Ireland, did I learn about storytelling? Jesus, every fricking rock has a story behind it.
Steve Sweeney:
What was great when I was over there, probably changed, but maybe not. When I was over there, which I’ve been four times, there was no television in the bed and breakfast, and there was no television in the pub. And I’d walk in and I didn’t realize how addicted I was to it. I didn’t realize how addicted I was to it. And you’d walk in the room and say, “Where’s the television?”
Buzz Knight:
But let’s talk about this for a second. That’s a topic. So you triggered something here and I heard a report just as I was driving in about the terrible addiction that is going on with certainly not just the youth, but the youth of today with device addiction, screen addiction. What’s your take on devices? Have they helped or have they hurt, I guess?
Steve Sweeney:
We’ll walk all the way around that thing. Is that okay?
Buzz Knight:
Yeah. Because I think it’s a terrible problem.
Steve Sweeney:
I have a wonderful nephew, who I’m very proud of. As a matter of fact, he just got nominated for a Grammy. He’s a musician. His name is Tim Lafave. I hadn’t seen him in two years. We went to lunch. He brought his phone, started talking, he looked down at it. I said, “What’s that?” He said, “It’s just something on Instagram.” I said, “Put it away.” He said, “What?” I said, “Put the phone away. I’m your uncle. You haven’t seen me in two years.” Wasn’t some heavy argument with him. He said, “Well, you do it.” I said, “No, I don’t.” If you notice, I never take the phone to dinner or the golf course. Like, even right now, you said you’d be in front of the building. That’s it. You know what I mean?
Buzz Knight:
Yeah.
Steve Sweeney:
So yes, I do think it’s an addiction, as a woman walks by us, looking at her phone.
Buzz Knight:
Yep.
Steve Sweeney:
By the way, I’m sorry to interrupt, I think when you take a walk and you’re enjoying either the company of somebody, or you’re enjoying the place that you’re at, I think it’s a terrible thing when I see people’s heads down, not enjoying the day or enjoying the person. It frustrates me.
You know what I find really annoying is like, I’ll be in a bank, which is an enclosed space, and the guy will be on the phone, I’m $5,000. It’s like, I don’t want to be invited into this conversation. Look at this puppy. Oh, my God.
Buzz Knight:
Hi.
Female:
Morning.
Steve Sweeney:
Oh, my God. Six weeks.
Female:
She’s actually about four months.
Steve Sweeney:
I was going to say that.
Female:
Four months. Yeah.
Steve Sweeney:
Oh, my God.
Female:
Peed on [kiwi] before.
Steve Sweeney:
Yeah. I find it some families are more addicted than others. But I did a gig. I did Joe Rogan’s, let’s sit on the bench here, I did Joe Rogan’s podcasts. And he said, “Why don’t you do a gig with me at the improv?” So as a side point, it was easy doing the radio, now I have to work at the Improv now. Now I’m working. Now I have to get tensed up and everything. But I go to the improv … You can stand if you want. I don’t mind sitting in the what. But the improv takes people’s phones and it gives them back to the end. Now what I have to deal with every fricking performance now as people on their phones. It’s so fucking rude.
Steve Sweeney:
They are addicted. It’s like, calling the babysitter or whatever. I try to be nice about it. And I say to the MC, tell him to get off the phone, get off the phone. But it is not just the kids. See, they don’t get it. I’ve been doing this 40 years. I present a product that I’m really proud of, I built the brand, I’m a performer. And I give the audience the respect of giving them something that’s polished and finished. Even though I improvise, something that they would really get into. When I’m looking out and their heads are down …
Steve Sweeney:
One of the things that’s really hard about stand up is when you’re angry, you can be angry, but then it’s got to be funny, but sometimes I’m just fucking angry. And I’m at a point now, where that’s what they see. But I like to be in a really good mood when I perform, and I don’t want to be the bad guy. And I don’t want to have to explain you’re being disrespectful to me. Not just to me, the other performance. But then the other side of me when I’m in my normal life, I can really see it. I see it at AA meetings.
Steve Sweeney:
Like one of the points in AA is we say, learn to listen and listen to learn. And when people are on their phones, their focus is split. But they’re also not supporting the person who’s sharing because 60% of communication is nonverbal. So when you see somebody looking at you and listening to you, it gives you this certain energy, it’s called emotional support. But when you see somebody and they’re paying half attention to you and you’re pouring your heart out, on a deep level, you’re going back to the barroom and you’re not being heard. And you’re not listening. They’re talking over each other. Like this kid’s on his phone.
Steve Sweeney:
It’s not that I’m immune from this shit. I mean, I can remember getting up in the middle of the night like somebody would get a cigarette and I’m looking at my phone. So long answer to a short question, I see it all bad. I see it’s really bad. Except for YouTube, which I like. Because I can go back and I can see shows that I grew up with and all that. But ultimately, when you step away from it, you’re still looking at a screen. You’re not looking at the trees, the water, the stillness.
Buzz Knight:
Yeah. I think of walking and why walking I think it’s important because it’s about a mindfulness in a moment in time. It’s the steps and the cadence of it. I noticed how you on the Joe Rogan podcast, you talked about breathing, and sort of the importance of it. Well, I mean, I think when you take a walk, it’s an amazing, therapeutic change of pace, maybe, if you’re stuck creatively, or if you’re angry about something-
Steve Sweeney:
Do you practice mindfulness?
Buzz Knight:
I do but I also need to be better at it. I feel like one of the things that-
Steve Sweeney:
So what happened to you in Sedona?
Buzz Knight:
So, when I went out to Sedona-
Steve Sweeney:
You were a general manager of a radio station.
Buzz Knight:
I was a corporate programmer for the whole company.
Steve Sweeney:
And how many stations was that?
Buzz Knight:
64 stations across 15 markets.
Steve Sweeney:
Okay. 64 stations and how many cities?
Buzz Knight:
- 15 cities.
Steve Sweeney:
Okay. So when you were off the job, were you able to leave the job off your mind or did it like stay with you? Like I work in jails now, I’m able to walk out. But when I was teaching, it stayed with me. So you’re out in Sedona, you got 64 stations-
Buzz Knight:
Yeah. And I had gone through a number of things. My mom passed away. So obviously, 102, lead a great life. But tremendously-
Steve Sweeney:
It’s a loss is a loss.
Buzz Knight:
A loss man. Additionally, this other family turmoil, let’s just call it, was going on in my life. I stopped while I was out there at one of those … You’ve been out there, right?
Steve Sweeney:
Yeah, several times.
Buzz Knight:
One of those places where it’s got one of those amazing rock formations that have the energy that’s-
Steve Sweeney:
Vortex, they call it.
Buzz Knight:
Yeah. And went out on the trip, kind of uncertain what I wanted to do. And I knew I wasn’t necessarily happy what I was doing. Something felt wrong. I remember it so vividly on one of those vortex moments, and I just came to the conclusion that I wanted to move into another chapter once my contract was over. I greatly loved the work and I love the people, and I loved the collaboration and the wins. But I was also living on planes all the time, or commutes where I would literally many times, Steve, I would commute to the airport here and there would be two hours a commute to the airport. I would land in Philadelphia and then I’d be stuck in another 90 minutes of traffic on the airport on my way to the station. I was just burnt from all of that.
Steve Sweeney:
You were burnt out.
Buzz Knight:
And I didn’t really want to sacrifice the things that were important to try to enjoy. I felt like I was … I never wanted to be that person who was just accepting a paycheck. That’s not me.
Steve Sweeney:
Now, how long ago was that?
Buzz Knight:
That was three years ago.
Steve Sweeney:
I had this program where I was talking to kids about drugs and alcohol, long story. So I went to Dorchester High School. And one guy, I was kind of stunned by his openness. He said, “I’m burnt out. I’m a burnout.” And my brother who just retired from the Justice Department, he was federal prosecutor. He says, “Yeah.” He had lunch with somebody the other day and they just said they were burnt. They burnt out. I remember that feeling when I was teaching at UMass, I think, or Suffolk, and I’d teach in like four classes a day. By the end of the day, in my mind, I’d be speaking. And then in the back of my mind, I’d be saying, “Will you shut the fuck up?” You know what I mean?
Buzz Knight:
Yeah.
Steve Sweeney:
You’ve had it.
Buzz Knight:
Yeah. The voice in your head.
Steve Sweeney:
Yeah. It’s not a good feeling being burnt out.
Buzz Knight:
But I never have looked back on my decision. I never once-
Steve Sweeney:
Is there anything you miss?
Buzz Knight:
I miss the people and some of the places as well because I was doing this for a long time.
Steve Sweeney:
Did it feel like a loss when you left at first? Maybe 20% loss, 80% relief?
Buzz Knight:
Yeah, maybe. Maybe. I’ve never looked back on it. Now listen, I won’t mention what we’ve gone through in … I will mention the word, what we’ve gone through the last couple of years, because I’m tired of hearing the word probably like you. But this thing over the last two years, we know what’s happened with people, we’re seeing, what do they call it, the great resignation. I mean, people are having their own moments where they’re stopping and they’re going, is this really all there is? I think the last two years have forced that reflection that people have decided, well, I’m not going to-
Steve Sweeney:
Here’s my problem. In my business, show business, success, who defines success? The public defines it as rich and famous. Now, fame is very fleeting. Rich would have been good. I didn’t, whatever. But you get into a, what would you call it, a mindset of so-called making it. Right? But then it’s generational, because new people come along. I mean, there’s a lot of actors now that are great that are out there. But then there’s a lot of actors that used to be big stars. And with luck, they’re still working actors. And the thing that’s sustaining is, of course, the craft. But it’s hard to get out of that mindset of saying, okay, well, I pretty much already made my mark.
Steve Sweeney:
For me, I get taken over by projects like I’ve been … And then the other thing is to be grateful. I’ve had in the last few years just the most remarkable stuff happening. I just did a movie, Peter Farrelly, his next movie, it’s called The Greatest Beer Run Ever. It’s not about a beer run. It’s 1967. It’s in New York. This neighborhood is taking the Vietnam … They’re sending kids to Vietnam. They’re not coming back. So beer is kind of symbolic. So the civilian goes over there. And it’s an incredible story. And it’s a true story.
Steve Sweeney:
So I did this movie. And Peter is coming off an Academy Award, Best Picture with green book and screenwriter and everything. And everybody wanted to be in this movie. And the cast, he called me up, he said, “Well, Vigo Morgans turns out, but Russell Crowe is in. Not bad. Right?” The part I was up for, Bill Murray got. So my scene is with this guy, Zac Efron. So I get there on the set … And this is how the universe works. It’s like, your trip to Sedona. The reason that you went there could have been somebody who was sitting in the plane next to you and say, “That’s why I’m here.” So I walk on the set, and I lost friends in Vietnam. And they recreated Vietnam. I said, “Wow.”
Steve Sweeney:
The good things that have happened in my life and the bad things, none of them were planned for. So this was just this gift from the universe. And I’m doing this one man show about growing up in Charlestown called Townie and Peter is the executive producer for the film of it. The earliest stuff I said about making it and all that shit, everything goes away when I’m on a project. And then I think, this is it. Right here, this moment, this is it. And I get in a zone with another actor.
Steve Sweeney:
So for me, I have to unlearn what the society has to given me what’s success. I mean, the fame I’ve had, I fucking hated it. When people recognize you for your work, that’s great. But when people come up to you and they want to tell you jokes and all that shit, it’s a nightmare. So, did you feel that when you left? Like okay, given up the big job. There was some prestige, right, in that job?
Buzz Knight:
Yeah.
Steve Sweeney:
Some power or whatever.
Buzz Knight:
For sure. There is the ego.
Steve Sweeney:
Do you feel like you’ve made your mark?
Buzz Knight:
I still grapple with that question. Here’s where I go with it. Let’s take the podcast Takin A Walk. It’s something I love doing, meaning, walking. It’s conversation and interviewing, I love.
Steve Sweeney:
So what if not one fucking person listens to this?
Buzz Knight:
You know what, I probably will be devastated.
Steve Sweeney:
Really?
Buzz Knight:
But on the other hand, if six people listen, I’d made six happy.
Steve Sweeney:
But right here right now, we’re having a good conversation.
Buzz Knight:
That’s correct.
Steve Sweeney:
So that’s what I get out of it. When I was on the set of this movie, that’s it. That was the experience. I did a show in jails. I turned it into a TV show, we pitched it, it didn’t happen. But I knew when I performed for those guys, they was so fucking grateful and everything. I said, “This is the moment.” I felt it, I knew it. This is the moment.
Buzz Knight:
Well, you’re nailing it. Because I think I mentioned to you I interviewed Dan Shaughnessy for the podcast about his book on the Larry Bird era, the Celtics. And it’s a great book. In the book, you start remembering where you were yourself following this. And that moment in time, was an amazing moment. And you don’t always realize when you’re in a moment that it is the moment and it is an amazing moment.
Steve Sweeney:
When I was younger, I did Letterman. I did all these things, HBO with John Candy, all that stuff. I saw a great interview with Bill Murray. And Charlie Rose asked him, he said, “You did all these movies this, that.” And Bill Murray said something very profound. He said, “Yeah, I wish I was there.” He was not present. You know what I mean?
Buzz Knight:
Yeah.
Steve Sweeney:
So they say with age. I disagree with that. I think it’s with consciousness, with concentrating on where you are. I’m enjoying it all more now. I enjoy my work.
Buzz Knight:
Well, I enjoy, like I said, interviewing, a conversation-
Steve Sweeney:
Who have you interviewed that really sticks in your head, like over all the years? Because you were in radio, your broadcast.
Buzz Knight:
Sure. I was on the air. I would say Jerry Seinfeld, which was such a-
Steve Sweeney:
I worked with him. I love Jerry Seinfeld.
Buzz Knight:
Such an amazing … Some people say he wasn’t great. I’m like, he was great with me. So I love comedians. That’s why you and I hit it off because I just have such an appreciation for comedians. But I would say many of the comedians, whether it was Dana Carvey, Jerry, and then some of the unsung ones were so incredible. At that moment, I think they were sort of unsung like Larry Miller.
Steve Sweeney:
I remember Larry.
Buzz Knight:
So the comedians were-
Steve Sweeney:
How about politicians?
Buzz Knight:
Interviews-
Steve Sweeney:
Who’d you interview for politicians?
Buzz Knight:
I would say the one that comes to mind is a member, John Kasich, who ran for president.
Steve Sweeney:
Yeah, I do remember him.
Buzz Knight:
John, when I was in Ohio, we sort of became friends and he was a big music fan. I went to a Bob Dylan concert with him. And he loved talking about music. And I would go, “Hey, what’s Tip O’Neill like? You know what I mean? I would want to hear some inside story. Can I designate you the first two-part Takin A Walk, I guess, right now? And can we-
Steve Sweeney:
Sure.
Buzz Knight:
Let’s do a tremendous tease. I want to hear the first time you met the Farrelly brothers when we come back to part two of Takin A Walk.
Steve Sweeney:
Sounds great.
Outro:
Takin A Walk with Buzz Knight is available on Spotify, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.
About The Author
Buzz Knight
Buzz Knight is an established media executive with a long history of content creation and multi-platform distribution.
After a successful career as a Radio Executive, he formed Buzz Knight Media which focuses on strategic guidance and the development of new original content.
