Bertcast
Something’s Burning: If We Had $60,000,000, We’d ALL Be Rich | Ed Robertson + Mark McGrath | S5 E13
20 May 2025
Chapter 1: What is the significance of the $60 million discussion?
Rest in peace, dude. Here's a little fact. Yes, sir. One week was supposed to be that first song in Shrek. Are you kidding me? Are you serious?
And I turned it down. Are you serious? Because I was like an animation nerd and DreamWorks hadn't made a good movie yet. Wow. And I was like, no, I'm holding out. I want to be part of a Pixar thing or something. Did you see the movie? Did you get a chance to see it? They sent me an animatic. Okay. And Mike Myers was not doing the Scottish accent. Oh.
He was doing like an overly pronounced Canadian accent. Oh, the demo version of the movie. Yeah. And I was like, this is going to be fucking terrible. Right. Like, I cannot give this song to the movie. And then one of the biggest animated films of all time. So that's one of very few regrets in my career. But the flip side of that sword is that was fucking hard on Smash Mouth.
It was.
It was very hard on those guys. It's like a poison apple. And Arwell didn't want to be the Shrek guy.
He didn't. I talked to him about that one night. And I've told this story again, but I'm going to share it one more time. We were in Connecticut, and our hotel had a fire alarm. And I went out to the parking lot, and I'm sitting there. It's like fucking 2 in the morning, 2.30 in the morning. And I'd been to the bar. I was drunk, and I came out, and I'm hammered.
And Steve came up to me, and he was like, hey, man, I'm Steve. You're Bert. I was on Travel Channel at the time. He was like... When they're going to keep the bar open, you want to go have a drink? And I was like, yeah, fuck yeah. And then we crashed a wedding that night. Listen, I hope you understand this as much as what I'm saying.
When I say you're my guys, all my life moments in my life, my early moments, you guys were a part of them. And as silly as it sounds, it's not silly, but I signed a deal at Fox or something with Will Smith, and I was flying home. And Smash Mouth was in my headset. And that was, you're an all-star. Get your game on, go play, hang out.
You're a rock star, get your show on, get paid. All that glitters is gold. Only shooting stars break the mold. It's a cool place, and they say it goes cooler. You bundle up now, wait till you get older. But the media man begs to turn. Don't stop me! But you're saying something so right.
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Chapter 2: How did the music industry change with Napster?
How long ago was this just out of?
Eclipse.
Eclipse? Whenever the Eclipse was. Yeah, last year.
Yeah. And he says, we see each other for the first time in fucking years. And it was bad. It was really bad. And, you know, we apologize. We talk or whatever. You know, apologies are weird. So you're like, okay.
Because are they real? Are they earnest? Is it just to, like, temper the moment? You know what I mean, Bert?
Yeah. And his bodyguard comes up to me and he goes, is it over? And I went, huh? He goes, you went, is it over? I said, yeah. And he goes, it's all he talks about. Wow. That's closure. When I go, because it's all I thought about. It's this guy that I fucking loved. I was like a brother. How could you not? And then you go, god damn it, man.
And when he said that, I went, thank God that he was as bothered by it. That's the thing is you go, it's the fucking dead inside people that just don't give a fuck about anyone's emotions. And they go, it's business. And you're like, no, it's not. It really is not. It's not. It's like when you write a song, I'm always blown away by people that think it's easy.
It's easy to write a good song. Really? And I think you could say that. Like, D, C, G, hey, walking down the street having some fun. Hey, let's have some fun. It's not that hard. It's really hard to write a hit song. In Nashville right now, they're writing good songs all day long. I've got a thousand good songs, and I'm sure you do on your phone. I really do. I've got great ideas.
It's so hard to get, because you can have a great song, and then it gets lost in the recording, in the mix, and it just never figured out. It loses that magic, Bert. You know what I mean? Something gets lost. The spiritual component's not there, whatever it is. That's what's hard. That's the difficult part.
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Chapter 3: What personal experiences shaped their careers?
That guy, his crowd...
It's crowd work, but it's the Salvador Dali of crowd work.
Can I give you another Canadian who's fucking amazing?
He's Soharlin's first cousin of the keyboard player in my band. Oh, really? No. Soharlin. You guys are friends, right?
Yeah, we've known him forever. He's a sweetheart. One of the best people at crowd work, and this is why I'll never shit on crowd work, another Canadian, Ian Bagg. Do you know who he is?
No, I don't. How do I not know Ian Bagg?
He is, when I say, so crowd work... Yeah, it can be hacky, but so can stand-up. Yeah. But, man, when you see it done well, especially as a comic, you're like, this is inspired.
It's funny. My daughter lived in L.A. for a while. She worked out here. And I asked her to get... She had a friend in from Toronto. And I asked her to set them up at the comedy store. And... She had seen him before with me, but her and her friend went to see Harlan and I said, how was it? And she said, dad, I almost threw up. She said, I was laughing so hard. I almost threw up.
It's the good stuff right there. Carlin Williams is... Not it was great. It was amazing.
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Chapter 4: How do comedians navigate their popularity over time?
And I still laugh about it. That's perfect. I think it's so funny.
She is so, man, I don't know. Okay, let's go. Music that people don't think you like. They go, well, there's no way he likes them.
I love Slayer a lot. You know, I've loved him forever. I love the Beach Boys and I love Slayer. I love all of them. Oh, the Beach Boys. Yeah. I'm performing them this weekend. With the Beach Boys? Yeah, at the Beach Life Festival. Is John Stamos going to be on stage? Stamos, yep. He's out there. He rips. He's a really good drummer. He's a great drummer. Really good.
Bill Burr's a good drummer, too.
Bill Burr's a really good drummer. Tony Hinchcliffe's a great drummer. Oh, is he really? I didn't know that. Yeah. Really? Yeah, Tony Hinchcliffe's a great drummer.
Is KC Rocket as great as we think he is?
I don't know. I haven't seen enough of his stuff. But you know who I'm talking about. Of course I do. I've got to be honest with you. The fact that Casey Rockett's going to hear this and hear you say his name is going to blow his goddamn mind.
I think he's great. I only see the 60-minute Kill Tony things. Does he have the set? Does that last for a while?
Is it pizza for breakfast? No, no, no, no. So great comedy is always going to be great comedy. So the thing you like about the thing is always going to be there. Here's what happens with comedy. You get famous too fast, then the audience defines what you are and you try to live up to their expectations.
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Chapter 5: What are the challenges in songwriting as artists age?
Buddy, this is not, this is who Bare Naked Ladies has always been. It's big time. You know that, you know that, right? Yeah. I don't mean that disrespectfully, but like that's your band for me.
Yeah.
It's crazy.
We have a live... jocularity and uh spontaneous improv crazy in your face one week etc there's that side of the band that's real yeah that's part of who we are but i've always like i grew up on country music i grew up on singer-songwriters and telling a story. I picked up my guitar. Actually, I picked up my dad's guitar so I could play Tom T. Hall songs. Oh, shit.
I like... Yeah, little fuzzy pups, old pickup trucks. Music when it's good and life. How great is that? That's the best lyric ever. Yeah. Tomatoes on a vine. And onions. And I like you too. That's the greatest simplistic, but I dare you to write that. We had that on. No one can write that anymore. No, you can't. No, you can't. Because you sound patronizing.
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Chapter 6: What does it mean to write music for expression?
I grew up listening to that on an eight track in my dad's grand marquee. My mom drinking Corvasier, crying, listening to that. And I'm like, I was disturbed and happy at the same time. That's why I wanted to write songs. Was like to make people feel the way Willie Nelson made me feel. And you know what, dude? You've done that.
No, hang on. Thank you. Both of you have done that. Both of you have done that. Is that you give us a gift that's a thing that like... We're in my daughter's college town and we're looking to get her housing. It's really complicated.
Right.
And... And we had just been at a tequila bar. I had a couple drinks. And the girls were asking, a bunch of girls in the car, they were asking, who's on the podcast this week? And I play one week. And they go, oh, we know him. And then I go, well, I also have Mark McGrath. Who's Mark McGrath? I play Joy. What am I saying?
Joy and pain and sunshine. No, no, no.
I play the first one. Names are bad for me. Fly. Fly. I call it Joy. And the girls go, oh, we know this song. Whoa, whoa, whoa. You get to know these guys? And I went, here's what's crazy. Your daughter said that about you? Both my daughters.
Like you have access to any, you can go to, you know.
You'd be shocked who she's impressed by. You're the best.
I am. I am shocked, bro. You're talking to me.
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