2 Bears, 1 Cave with Tom Segura & Bert Kreischer
How Prison Changed Danny Trejo's Life | 2 Bears, 1 Cave
Mon, 25 Nov 2024
SPONSORS: Don’t miss out on all the action this week at DraftKings! Download the DraftKings app today! Sign-up using https://dkng.co/bears or through my promo code BEARS. Visit https://bluechew.com with promo code BEARS to get your first month FREE. It's another week of 2 Bears, 1 Cave with Burnt Crystals being joined by guest bear, Danny Trejo! John Segura is out growing his beard back, so Bert had to do his homework for this interview. He has plenty of engaging questions as he learns about Danny Trejo's first Hollywood roles, his gangster roots, and the importance his Uncle Gilbert had on his upbringing. Danny also talks all about his time doing time, how to stay in shape behind bars, and tells Bert a story about how he accidentally joined Alcoholics Anonymous. The two also discuss Danny's new show "Mysteries Unearthed" on the History channel, chicano culture, cars, cry acting, William Shatner, and of course the vast filmography of Mr. Danny Trejo. Check it out! 2 Bears, 1 Cave Ep. 264 https://tomsegura.com/tour https://www.bertbertbert.com/tour https://store.ymhstudios.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: How did Danny Trejo get started in Hollywood?
Coming into Hollywood, when you got into Hollywood, because you came in like legit, like your first movie was... Runaway Train. Runaway Train. And one of the reasons that you popped so hard was you were the authentic version of what they were trying to make a movie about. Like you were the real deal.
That's kind of what the director said. I remember when they had picked somebody else and then they wanted me after I showed up. And Andre Kozlowski, the director, was trying to tell people, no, look. This is Eric Roberts. He goes to Eric's face like this. He goes, look, face.
Ah.
Look. And this other guy who was kind of Spanish goes, ah. Look. Hey. I was like, is this guy clowning me or what? How did he say? He says, ah, ah. Adversary. It was adversary or against each other. We looked like enemies. These other guys looked like lovers. So I ended up boxing Eric Roberts.
Chapter 2: What was Danny Trejo's prison experience like?
I just watched that this morning. Because I've heard so much about the lore of that story. I'm obsessed with the little things in life that change your life forever. The one choice you make that all of a sudden, and for you, It was you got a call from someone saying there's coke on set, right?
No. Well, yeah. This guy was staying clean, you know, and he called me and said, hey, there's so much blow down here, man. I got 108 days clean, please. So I just went down to hang out with him.
unbeknownst to me that i was supposed to go down there the next day anyway as an extra so i walked on the set and uh that night and to hang out with this kid and and uh i run into a a friend of mine that i was in prison with a guy named eddie bunker eddie bunker is fascinating eddie bunker hold on remember please tell me stories about eddie bunker oh he's okay keep going i apologize but but but uh
He's looking at me and says, hey, you're Danny Trejo. Yeah. He says, what are you doing here? I said, they're going to give me 50 bucks for acting like a convict. And we laugh because we've been doing that for free for all our lives. So he says, hey, you know what? We need somebody to train one of the actors on a box. I'm like, what's it pay? And he said, $3.20 a day.
Chapter 3: How did Danny Trejo become a successful actor?
And I said, how bad do you want this guy beat up? I thought... That's a hit. I wasn't making that a week, homie. A day, I wouldn't take two minutes to beat him up. And he said, no, no, no. You got to be real careful. This kid's high strung, man. He might sock you. I said, Eddie, for $320, give him a stick. Are you crazy? I'd be beat up for free, homie.
Chapter 4: What role did Uncle Gilbert play in Danny's life?
I started training Eric Roberts how to box for a movie called Runaway Train. And Eric, you know... Well-deserved. It was a movie star. So movie stars have their own way of acting on the set, and sometimes it doesn't agree with the director. I want to rest now and go to Australia. And everything stopped. So Eric respected me. So when they wanted him, they would tell me, go get Eric. Go get Eric.
Come on, Eric, let's do this, and then we'll train, because he wanted to train him. Please be Eric Roberts. I'm sorry. I thought I shut that off.
Chapter 5: How does Danny Trejo view addiction and recovery?
That's okay. That's okay.
That's how real this show is. And so I had, I had, I go get Eric and Andre comes in because I was just training him. He comes in. I'll never forget. He comes in and goes, Russian, first American movie was Runaway Train. He goes, you be in movie. You fight Eric in movie. And you be my friend. Well, if you have a prison background, you be my friend has like a little, wait a minute, hold on, hold on.
We're not shouting together, punk. You know what I mean? It's like, I mean, and then he leans over and kisses me on both cheeks and walks away. And I'll never forget, I looked at Eddie. I said, Eddie, I'm going to train the kid for 320, but if I'm going to be kissing that old man, I want more money. And he said, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's European. Yeah.
Yeah, okay, well, if I'm kissing him, if I would have known that old man did, he got me a SAG card.
Chapter 6: What insights does Danny have about prison culture?
Yeah.
You know what I mean?
That SAG card changes your life.
Yeah.
Chapter 7: What lessons did Danny learn from his time in prison?
Let me get that front, too. I mean, it's like the whole life. I started going from movie to movie to movie because they were making a whole bunch of prison movies. I got that big tattoo on my chest, and the directors loved it. So my first 10 movies, I don't have a shirt on. We're in prison. And it was funny. Directors would always say, Danny, say something prison-y. Hey, we'll kill all you punks.
1985.
Chapter 8: What are the challenges of reintegration after prison?
1985. You got out of prison at 68?
69.
I got out of prison in 1969. I was a drug counselor. I'm still a drug counselor. I work for Western Pacific Med Corp. We have a... Detox all over, 13 detoxes.
Okay, can I tell you my, there are a few stories, I get obsessed with people, especially anyone who's had a rough background, meaning like the chips were against them, it didn't look like they were supposed to succeed, nothing was going to go their way, and all of a sudden they just show up in a major way.
And I heard a story one time, I was talking to a friend, and he said, you know, Danny detoxed in the hole.
Always. Really? Every time I got arrested, I was hooked. So I would detox in the county jail with like, hey, shut up, bastard. Jesus. You know, that's the way you just kicked, you know. And you've got to remember, this was 1965, 64, 63. You know, when the... I remember, well, God, in 65... 63 when I got arrested. It was like nothing.
I mean, they were sending people to the gas chamber or selling dope. Nobody knew. That was crazy when I think of it.
I want to go back to Eddie Bunker. What does it feel like when you've been in prison? I mean, I have so many fucking questions for you. Going to prison has got to feel, it's got to give you anxiety. When you put on prison clothes again on a movie, was there a moment of like, oh, God.
That happened. Actually, it was funny because when the first AD on Runaway Train, Handed me that blue shirt. I kind of laughed. You know what I mean? I just can't put it on. He said please this time. And he told me to leave it open to my shirt off, you know, because I got that big taboo, and I left it off. And I just stood there just kind of like just reminiscing.
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