HATE TO BREAK IT TO YA with Jamie Kennedy

Anthony Michael Hall is one of those actors whose movies helped define an entire generation. This week on Hate To Break It To Ya, I finally got to sit down with someone I've admired since I was a kid. The Breakfast Club was one of the movies that made me want to become an actor, so getting to hear these stories firsthand was pretty incredible.

We get into his early days working with John Hughes on The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, and Weird Science, including the iconic moments he improvised on set. Anthony shares stories about his relationships with Hollywood legends, his experience working with Tim Burton and Christopher Nolan, and how he went from being one of the biggest teenage stars in the world to joining Saturday Night Live at just 17 years old.

We also talk about the Brat Pack, getting fired from Taps before Tom Cruise landed the role, his friendship with Robert Downey Jr., and why even after 51 years in Hollywood, he's still auditioning for parts.

From the wild days of SNL to The Dark Knight, Reacher, and everything in between, Anthony has seen just about every side of this business. This was a really special conversation for me, and I hope you enjoy it.

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About Anthony Michael Hall:

Anthony Michael Hall is an actor, producer, and director best known for his iconic roles in John Hughes classics Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, and Weird Science. At 17, he became the youngest cast member in Saturday Night Live history. His extensive career also includes Edward Scissorhands, Pirates of Silicon Valley, The Dead Zone, The Dark Knight, Halloween Kills, and Reacher.

Follow Anthony Michael Hall:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amh4real/

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Timestamps:

00:00:00 – Anthony Michael Hall Joins the Podcast
00:03:05 – How The Breakfast Club Changed My Life
00:09:01 – Edward Scissorhands, Tim Burton & Reinventing Himself
00:14:19 – John Hughes and the Freedom to Improvise
00:21:23 – Hollywood Auditions, Christopher Nolan & Halloween Kills
00:29:30 – How Hollywood and the Entertainment Industry Changed
00:39:51 – The Brat Pack, Molly Ringwald & Tom Cruise
00:48:13 – Reality TV, Alec Baldwin & Ice-T
00:53:52 – Behind the Scenes of Weird Science
01:03:32 – Reacher, Hollywood & What's Next
01:14:32 – Joining Saturday Night Live at Just 17
01:20:16 – Getting Let Go from SNL with Robert Downey Jr.
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This week I sat down with Joseph Whipp, who played Sheriff Burke in the original Scream and Sergeant Parker in A Nightmare on Elm Street, and I realized pretty quickly how much of his story I had never heard.

Long before Scream, Joseph was a high school drama teacher in Northern California and spent two and a half years playing Randall P. McMurphy in a San Francisco production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest before Jack Nicholson took the role to the screen. We get into those early theater years, old-school Hollywood, working with Wes Craven, Cheers, The Golden Girls, Sean Connery, Karl Malden, Paul Sorvino, Johnny Depp and a completely different era of being a working actor.

We also go back through Scream, why Sheriff Burke was never actually killed, why Joseph still thinks they could have brought him back, the insanity of the horror convention circuit, and his ongoing plan for the inevitable Scream 59.

I’ve known Joseph for years from the Scream convention world, but I genuinely got to know him during this conversation. At 85, he’s still hilarious, sharp, full of stories and has more than five decades of Hollywood history behind him.
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About Joseph Whipp:
Joseph Whipp is an actor whose career spans more than five decades. He is best known to horror fans as Sheriff Burke in Scream and Sergeant Parker in A Nightmare on Elm Street. His credits also include Escape from Alcatraz, Cheers, The Golden Girls, Generations, Death Spa, The Hidden and Wrong Is Right. Before his screen career, Joseph taught drama at Carlmont High School and spent two and a half years performing Randall P. McMurphy in a San Francisco production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

Follo Joseph Whipp:
Website: josephdwhipp.com
Instagram: @josephdwhipp
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TIMESTAMPS:
00:00:00 – The Scream 59 Origin Story
00:07:57 – From San Francisco to Venice Beach
00:17:50 – Playing McMurphy Before Jack Nicholson
00:28:00 – Sheriff Burke Never Got Killed
00:41:00 – The Biggest Scream Convention Jamie Ever Did
00:49:50 – Hollywood in the ’80s & Creative Friction
00:57:00 – The Cheers Audition With One Hour’s Notice
01:10:00 – Johnny Depp, Wes Craven & Betty White
01:23:00 – Wild Stories From the Horror Convention Circuit
01:33:00 – The Scream Family & Scream 59
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This week I’m going down the AI rabbit hole because something about this story is getting seriously weird. An AI researcher leaves Anthropic warning about how dangerous this technology could become, we're hearing claims about rogue bots escaping their sandbox, hacking systems and even leaving self-replicating code around the internet — and I’m trying to figure out how much of this is real and how much could be a work.

Right now I’m about 75/25. I think something very real is happening with AI, but I also have questions about why we're suddenly being flooded with warnings, who benefits from regulation, and whether fear could be used to lock down the industry. Either way, I think 2027 is going to look very different. Save the tape.

I also explain why I’m convinced we live in some kind of matrix after connecting O.J. Simpson, the Bronco chase, MTV, the Kardashians, Jeff Lewis and my own prank-show history. Then we get into some absolutely insane clips from Los Angeles and Portland, the Sydney Sweeney debate, and finally a “greatest TV shows” list that has me asking how some of the biggest shows in pop culture somehow didn’t make the cut.
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Timestamps:
00:00:00 – Trejo’s Donuts, Life Updates & Full Transparency
00:05:50 – The O.J.-Kardashian-Prank Show Matrix
00:10:32 – Is AI Getting Out of Control?
00:14:43 – The AI Whistleblower: Real or a Work?
00:20:55 – Rogue AI, Regulation & Self-Replicating Code
00:28:31 – My 2027 Prediction: Save This Tape
00:32:21 – The Portland Chromosome Shirt Controversy
00:39:07 – The Sydney Sweeney Debate
00:43:37 – The “Best TV Since 2000” List Makes No Sense
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Support the Pod:
💥 Patreon: patreon.com/thejamiekennedy
🎟️ Tour Dates: jamiekennedy.com
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This week on Hate To Break It To Ya I sat down with Mercedes “MJ” Javid, and we had a lot to catch up on. We get into the world of Jeff Lewis and Chump Land, what happens when people fall out of a friend group, loyalty, getting “de-chumped,” and why some people walk away gracefully while others burn everything down on the way out.

MJ also opens up about someone dropping dime on her during the first Chump Con, and then we finally get into our own beef. We break down what happened between us on camera, where things went wrong, and why she believes being able to apologize, forgive and move forward is healthier than hanging onto resentment. We also talk about the early days of reality TV and Bravo, Shahs of Sunset, her real estate career, my ridiculous house hunt, where the whole Jeff Lewis universe is headed, and the new chapter she’s building for herself.

MJ and I can argue, laugh, go completely off the rails and somehow land on something real by the end of it. This was one of those conversations.

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About Mercedes “MJ” Javid:
Mercedes “MJ” Javid is a television personality and luxury real estate broker best known as an original cast member of Bravo’s Shahs of Sunset. She returned to the Bravo world with The Valley: Persian Style and is also entering a new chapter with her upcoming solo podcast, New Season.

Follow MJ:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mercedesjavid/
X: https://x.com/MercedesJavid

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Timestamps:
00:00:00 – MJ Does Her Makeup Live & The Cartier Bracelet Story
00:07:08 – How People Exit Friend Groups: Grace vs. Scorched Earth
00:12:55 – The Chump Con Incident: Someone Dropped Dime on MJ
00:20:11 – How MJ First Got Into Jeff's World & Their History on the Show
00:25:08 – Jamie and MJ's On-Air Beef: What Really Happened
00:39:47 – OG Bravo Wives, Paris Hilton, and the Birth of Reality TV
00:43:02 – The Apology: MJ Says Sorry and Means It
00:54:55 – Forgiveness Is Health
01:02:26 – The House Hunt: Elevator Houses, Freeway Studios & Finding Home
01:09:01 – Where Is Chump Land Headed? Jeff, Howard Stern, and the Future

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Support the Pod:
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Back with another solo episode, and this one happened because I came home from the Laugh Factory way too fired up to go to sleep.

I went up on a Monday night, the set was going great, and then I tried one joke that completely changed the room. People started arguing, people started walking out, and at one point I actually offered an audience member $100 to leave. They didn't take it.

So I wanted to sit down and talk through what happened, why the joke hit such a nerve, and where comedy is right now when a room can go from laughing together to completely divided in a matter of seconds. I also get into what happened after the show, the conversation I had with the person I offended, and why I still think comedy has to be a place where we're allowed to push things, get uncomfortable, disagree, and hopefully still laugh.

This one got weird fast.
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TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 – I Just Got Back From the Laugh Factory
03:16 – The Set Was Going Great… Until It Wasn’t
07:48 – The Joke That Changed the Room
13:24 – I Offered an Audience Member $100 to Leave
20:56 – I Apologized, Hugged It Out… And She Still Wasn’t Happy
27:03 – Can We Still Joke About Everything?
31:25 – Watching the Actual Footage From the Show
37:44 – The Apology, the Hug & What Happened Next
46:10 – Final Thoughts on the Night
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Support the Pod:
💥 Patreon: patreon.com/thejamiekennedy
🎟️ Tour Dates: jamiekennedy.com
👕 Merch: jamiekennedy.com/merch
📺 Subscribe: youtube.com/@jamiekennedycomedy
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