Straight From the Mouth

How difficult were the adjustments?

Danny: I think my ego was the biggest thing I had to check and it took a while. The fact is - here's how the show works. Jamie comes in, opens her mouth, and the show starts. It evolves from there. For ten years, I had everything I was going to talk about written down, I'm going to say this at 7:12, the phones are gonna go until 7:22, I'm gonna take a break, play a song, come back at 7:31 and I'm gonna do this bit or this joke. That's not the way we now work. I would come in with stacks and stacks of paper of every day and never get to them. I started to get kinda angry about it and then I realized how damn good this show is the way Jamie runs it. So, I had to check my ego a little bit, but in exchange for that, it's the easiest job I've ever had.

Jamie: The way it came about was a nightmare. I was really comfortable with my (former) partners. We were in a comfy spot, we were starting to win. I think when we started in 22nd place and my bonuses were based on 1 through 15. We'd moved up to 5th or something like that. Everything was great, then this explosion happened and now I have this partner and we have to start all over. He was getting all the attention, whereas with the other two, I was getting all the attention. I was thinking "Wait a minute, I worked my ass off to get this far and now the newspaper wants to talk to him, and the magazines want to talk to him, and interviewers want to talk to him. I'm just sitting there saying hey..."

So, it was basically a business plan. Did somebody come to you and say, "Look we have an opportunity to bring in..."?

Jamie: Not an opportunity, "Here's what we're doing." Then I called the GM and said "This is crap going down, and you can take Danny Bonaduce and shove him up your ass." It's not so much that I hated (Danny) but I hated what was happening in my life.

How long did it take for you to get past the anger?

Jamie: The callers were all saying "die" to him and telling me "how dare you screw over the people you've been with for five years. You can die, too. We're never listening to you again..." Everyone pretty much thought that I did this. I would beat myself up and (in my mind) Danny because he doesn't

think, "Why don't you get what I'm saying, why don't you get what I'm doing, why don't you get the direction I'm going?" It wasn't until the first year and a half that I decided I was not going to fight this any more. Now, I just go with the flow.

What advice would you give to someone who goes through the same experience you did?

Jamie: I would say that if I could do it all over again, I wouldn't have been fake to Danny, and smile when I have all this turmoil inside. He couldn't tell where I was coming from because I wasn't honest with him.

What do you think it was like for Danny the first year?

Jamie: I think he would tell you that it was horrible. He will admit that he's really paranoid if people will like him or not. He never experienced (listeners) telling him out right, "We don't like you, go away, die." So, it was really hard for him.

When did you begin having an honest relationship with him?

Jamie: After a year. I wanted to quit. It wasn't until we had cocktails at the Playboy mansion; a friend of ours was sitting between us and finally said "Ya know what..." and then we talked and got it all out.

How similar or different were your ideas on doing a show?

Danny: It's the same kind of show in the same sense that the Wright Brothers' first flight has to do with the space shuttle. They both involve flight but couldn't be more different. We're much more seat-of-the-pants here now, and I really was a scheduled disc jockey. That is the biggest difference, but when you are prepared to do the kind of show we do, as Jamie is, being even remotely clever or remotely informed makes my job very easy.

Jamie: I think the company set it up where I would add the spice, and Danny would add the flavor.

Speaking of spice, give me a a Jamie-ism.

Jamie: Mangina, a man who has got married and lost his balls.

Do you assume roles?

Danny: I would say Jamie is single, wild, goes to parties and is dating and having trouble with men. It's a real relationship show - the good and bad of relationships. She represents the tumultuous part of it and I represent the very sedate and satisfied part of it. I have two children, a very happy marriage, am very comfortable with my job. I don't think it's good cop-bad cop, because we can both get pretty wild, but her life is much more wild than mine. So, mine is the perspective of been there done that, but she also gets so far out there that sometimes I barely understand what she's talking about.

Jamie: I would say that I bring the drama and Danny brings the comedy.

As hard as is it for me to imagine, Danny is strangly sounding like Ward Cleaver.

Danny: I was just pitched for a reality show, and I said "Buddy, you're talking to Ward Cleaver. It would be the worst show you ever saw. I work 18 hours a day, then I go home, tuck my kids in and go to bed."

What other things keep you busy?

Danny: Well, I've got "The Other Half," which is my daytime talk show on NBC. I've got some shows that I've developed for other people. Writing is a big thing; I took some ideas to NBC, Fisher Entertainment and Fox. My book comes out next week in soft cover. It's called "Random Acts of (Madness)" and it's probably one of the things, besides my children Isabella and Dante, I'm most proud of. I'm keeping as busy as possible.

With L.A. being the mecca for celebrities, how do you find guests for interviews that stand out?

Danny: You know, we almost don't do them. The only guest we have on with any regularity is Dr. Phil, because he's a fan of the show. Our show would only be interrupted, even by the biggest stars. We have a thing that we do that most people would not play that comfortably with, and a lot of guests would not serve us. The show mostly talks about relationships and sex, if you will. We would have to stop everything to say "Here's the cast of That 70's Show." There would just be no reason for it. We do it now and again if we happen to be a really big fan, or they happen to be a really big fan of the show and get it, but we don't usually just let a bunch of unprepared civilians walk into the mayhem that is The J&D Show.

Jamie: I have a rule; if they don't listen to the show and if they don't get the show, I don't want them on. I am no fan of somebody schlepping their new movie. I have no interest in asking somebody about their new movie, and we're not allowed to ask them about what's really going on in their lives.

Danny, I'm intrigued by someone like yourself who has been on the other side of the microphone in interviews. Does your experience of being a celebrity help you to know the best types of questions to ask?

Danny: It's not that I know the right questions to ask, but I understand that, even though my listeners may not know the answer to a question, asking the same things that everybody else does, will put the guy in a bad mood. More than knowing great questions, I know which are the stupid ones.

What questions do you like to ask?

Danny: Mostly questions of curiosity, because I get really star-struck. So, I usually ask them to give me a rundown of their day, like what time they get up, have breakfast with their families or is it a bunch of nannies serving people, is their home life a conglomerate, or is it a real live family?

Who are you star struck by?

Danny: I would have to say Oprah... You know who my role model in life is (if you read my book, you'll see this a lot) Johnny Carson. He is the do all end all for me.

Have you met him?

Danny: I've met him, yeah. But it's like a priest meeting the Pope. What do you say?

Is it possible to reach a heightened sense of fame as a jock in a city that is so fixated on bigger-than-life stars?

Danny: Yes, as a matter of fact, in certain ways, you're more powerful than most. For example, let's say that you're trying to get a good table at a restaurant. Let's say the cast of "Frasier" calls up and wants a table. They'd probably give it to Kelsey Grammer, right? But can Kelsey Grammer go on "Frasier" next week and talk for 20 minutes about how good your restaurant was, or even worse, talk about how much you suck, and a cockroach ran across your dinner? Jocks are all powerful.

Jamie: I think it's a lot like being a soap star. It's a different kind of fan, because a fan of a soap opera thinks they know that person, whereas a fan of film sees George Clooney, blah, blah, blah. Our fans of radio are so tied to the story line and so tied into the show that they can actually touch us and be with us. A radio star has the ability to be bigger than a film star... more passionate.

Beyond listeners, whose opinion do you value most?

Danny: My wife's.

Do you chat about your show with her pretty regularly?

Danny: Yeah, I do, but she doesn't listen to the show. I've always done a family friendly show until I hooked up with Jamie. Then it became "don't listen with the kids in the car." The discussion would turn to sex, and since I'm a married man, the only person I could be discussing is my wife Gretchen, and I'd go home and we'd get in a fight. I said, "You have two choices here; for me suck to at my job, or you don't listen."

What is your take on reality TV?

Danny: I like certain reality shows - I like "The Osbournes" very much. I think "The Anna Nicole Smith Show" is directly responsible for the decline of western civilization. I think they've run the gamut of reality shows. I think you're going to see them get a little more dangerous, a little more mean, and a little more naked, but, I think they've run the gamut. I don't think there's any of them that I actually watch. I'm a big fan of a writer sitting down to polish it up until it's really good, and then good actors perform it. Robin Williams, when he's on, is the funniest guy in the world. When he's not, it's a tragedy. The same thing goes for reality shows.

You mentioned that you used to have every detail of your show planned out. How do you prepare for your show now?

Danny: I will tell you this, I am the most informed human being ever. I probably read 200 pages of information every morning. Because I have no idea where we're going to go next, I have to read everything so I can be an informed participant in the conversation.

Who gathers the material?

Danny: Mike Roberts, our producer, is responsible for all that, and he is really excellent in his job. Again, to keep up with the complete free flow of the show means we need constant feeding of information.

There is a trend now of radio shows broadcasting on television. Could your show make the transition?

Danny: Absolutely! Because a lot of the stuff we do is pretty visual. If there was a reality show to be made, I think Jamie and Danny would be a good one.

Jamie: I will tell you that something cool will be happening.

Jamie, have you've you changed much as a personality since coming from Denver or since Danny's arrival?

Jamie: I think I've lightened up a little. No. I don't even feel like it's a show, really. I feel like I just tell my life story. Danny is really funny. So, I find myself taking a moment to laugh instead of just thinking about what the next thing is.

And you have special expressions. Danny, what was the second biggest break in your career?

Danny: Partridge Family was the first one. Welch and Woody while at Q102 in Philadelphia invited me on their show, and I did a good enough job as a guest (I was out of work, living with my mom) that the general manager, Dave Knoll, and the program director, Charlie Quinn, hired me on the spot.

What's the biggest misconception about Jamie and Danny?

Danny: I don't think there are that many misconceptions about us. We are so out there on the radio with our lives. I think people know us fairly well.

Following Opie and Anthony's infamous church stunt, did it prompt you to be a bit more cautious on the air?

Jamie: No, because what I do and say on the air is real life stuff. We don't create anything. We don't do anything just to be shocking.

When you meet listeners in public, what's the most frequently asked question?

Jamie: Is there really a fancy pants. That's the name of my ex-boyfriend. Snapple for a while had these twist off caps, and inside of it, there was a fan, a "c" and a pair of pants. I must have had a thousand people send me those.

Why do you think there aren't more female jocks in lead roles?

Jamie: Because they try to be too freakin' cutesy and girly and nobody wants to hear that crap.

So what do you tell a woman that feels that she is a natural personality, but not getting the breaks?

Jamie: You can't talk down to people. Women don't want to be talked down to by another woman... too competitive. And we want to hear about someone who has a more f-cked up life than our own.

Tell us something that you've never told another magazine.

Danny: I recently started going back to church. My brother is a choir director at two churches in the valley, so sometimes I go to his church. There's a Catholic church right by my house, so I go there just as often. Jamie: One thing I've never said to anybody in an interview? "Suck my _____."