Matt Leinart & Jerry Ferrara on the Dan Patrick Show Full Interview | 9/6/24

[Music] [Applause] today's Mercedes-Benz interview the day brought to you by the utterly inspired all electric eqe sedan from Mercedes-Benz hundreds of customizable Comfort settings inside the cabin it's the EV that recharges you the vehicle electric the feeling all Mercedes learn more than mbusa.com eqe Matt liner Jerry Ferrara co-host of the new podcast it's called Throwbacks it's a weekly podcast from Sinclair and uh they are sharing stories about uh well leading up to how one became a star in TV one became a star in football they talk about family life it's available on YouTube Apple podcast Spotify all the podcast platforms all right guys let me ask you the poll question here Satan give uh Matt and Jerry the poll question yeah the poll question is who enjoys Los Angeles more the starting quarterback for USC or an actor on a hit TV show okay Matt I'll start with you I I saw this poll question guys uh on X and I started laughing thought it was fantastic listen I I gotta be honest with you being a quarterback in La when USC was the only real football team definitely had its perks guys it definitely had its perks did it did it did and I will say this before Jerry answers I did act a little bit back in the day I did I I was my first acting role was on Judging Amy as an extra okay Judging Amy as an extra I didn't get paid money so it wasn't illegal back then okay so I kind of had the best of both Wars now I don't know if Jerry's ever thrown a football in a real football game but I'll let him answer I I think I I win I'm gonna say that though okay but but Jerry you were in entourage and I think I think you guys might have overlapped was Entourage just starting when you were leaving USC I think around 040 05 was your last year Matt is that sound right okay yeah5 uh so Jerry how how big was Entourage you guys when you went out in Los an did you own Los Angeles when you were filming look this this question made me nervous for some reason I don't know why I feel like I'm going to screw it up statue of limitations is over so don't worry about that all that being said look it it is hard not to say you want to be the quarterback on one of the most iconic college football teams of all time I'm gonna go with that as my answer however I had no injury risks I never had to travel outside of La I was over 21 not that Matt probably had any problems getting into clubs back then but I you know I can go out have some pops you know so it was a pretty great run and that's what I think makes Matt and I such a fun pairing is we could could have easily been running around together back then and now you cut to 20 years later as some fathers and uh basically in a whole new chapter here we are well what was the interaction prior to starting this podcast how well did you guys know each other I had never met obviously I know a lot about Matt but I never met the guy before but you know the minute his name came up for me I said oh there's so much fun overlap I'm New York he's La we both lived in La we both have kids that are very young at this point so and the minute we talked it was you know we went on like a podcast blind date we hit it off you know he wanted to see me again and here we are we're now one episode in what made you want to do a podcast man uh you know it's it's a good question Dan I I've always you know there's the world of podcasting right I feel like everybody has one and I just I really wanted to wait until the opportunity just like the perfect opportunity and for me it was was like I really want to do it with somebody and I didn't know who that was and then when Jerry's name kind of came up I was like dude turtle from Entourage he's I and to Jerry's point like I hung with Connelly a little bit one of Jerry's boys like I was that was the only guy from that show that I I had an acquaintance with um but when they said Jerry I was like dude I know he's a he's a DieHard sports fan great just a great dude kind of like a guy's guy and and then in the similar situation me was just little kids and married and just like going through the chaos of life I like okay this could really work and we talked on the phone our Bromance started right away I think we talked for like an hour on the phone just like trying to get to know each other but it was super normal and super easy um and it's just been like that ever since and um it's we're just going to have a lot of fun you know I think it's going to be very relatable I'm kind of come from the athlete perspective he comes from the fan perspective but he's probably more knowledgeable about sports than a lot of athletes are obviously just uh just with love for Sports in general so um it's a really fun I think going to be a fun listen having great guests on and just talking man like we're and we're in the trenches in everyday life I the reason why Jerry you you were nervous about this is because you know your wife is listening and if you say anything stupid it could it's gonna come back to get you and by the way I'm the same way I'm married to a Cuban lawyer we have to be very very careful what we say on this podcast true but you're bringing that New York fan Jerry and you guys can be annoying obnoxious uh been tough times for New York sports fans here uh recently yes but we have the Knicks which is all I really care about at this point I can't get too mad at the Giants even though it might be a long year but they've given me so much joy beating the Pats and the Yankees obviously all those years yeah I'm so locked in on the Knicks you know what Matt mentioned I can't throw a football he's he's right but Dan I I hope you remember so Matt Matt when we do the show has his Heisman right near I brought this out for you Dan my beach ball MVP award Matt Dan presented me with this because Dan was calling the game in 2011 he presented me with my only athletic achievement on camera ever he was Matt he was so competitive he was I'm sure now there now understand he's going against uh super models that there were there were uh Megan marle was playing defensive back against I lit her up I lit her up i l her up you did you did light her up uh but you were like a Julian Edelman type and oh my god when the game ended he you would have thought he won the Super Bowl you would have thought he won an Academy Award he's like is that the is that the proudest thing on your resume Jerry is that is that it's up with that getting this at court side of at the Knicks game is number one and this might be number two and Dan who I know for a long time and love gave I think I teared up when I walked away when he gave me the I think I had like a a tear running down my face yes yeah I think you said I feel like Vince Young beating USC I think that's what you said was that a direct quote I that is not a direct quote no I would not say that and I'm already getting defensive of my boy here I mean yeah I mean gosh I was at Texas I mean we have Michigan Texas this weekend and I was at Texas a couple weeks ago sat down with Quin yers and I tell you what guys like it's what almost 20 years removed incredible game we you know it's obviously I think one of the best games of all time in college football if not the best and I just still just still like I can't escape Vince Young like the nightmare so Dan I appreciate you you know bringing that up because I will deal with it tomorrow there'll be a fan onet and I'll be like hey I was at the0 06 Rose bow Vince Young really got his knee was down huh wink wink I'm like oh my gosh guys can we just stop with this game the uh podcast is called Throwbacks it's uh new podcast with Matt leinard and Jerry Ferrara now you guys dealt with high highs here Matt you know national championship and Heisman then your football career ends Jerry you had Entourage then Entourage ends now you've had other acting gigs but dealing with that high but then you go to that phone's not ringing as much people aren't as interested in have you guys is that something that would be explored on the podcast of everybody talks about the high it's the lows where you really find out about yourself for me yeah it's actually something that I have queued up for next week's episode I wanna because I do want to tell this this story and uh yeah it does involve going back even if you go back like right before covid and then what that did to the business for me and then I turned down a job which at the time I was getting job offers I didn't think I'm like ah I just didn't want to do this show cut to they did 98 episodes so basically i' I'd be retired at this point what was the show Dr the ball I'm not I'm Gonna Save it I'm G hold it for us DP oh okay that's good hosting but uh all I'll say is I would have had to move to Hawaii which sounds like a bad thing or a great thing I looked at it like I don't want to be in Hawaii for seven years so yeah I'm gonna talk about all that stuff I always said with LA too La is an amazing place to live and when you're high it's it's Inc like it's just the best place ever I've experienced it when the phone does stop ringing and maybe you're not invited to the coolest party in the world and it could be a very lonely place and this is before family and stuff so I've experienced I'm gonna talk about everything and speaking of high I do have uh Jerry's bong from ENT that's right that's right like show used game used bong that I have back here uh that he signed and signed it as turtle and you said I never sign anything as Turtle but you signed the bong as Turtle so I figured you've done more movies than I have so I figured like I owed it to you to Dan's IMDb page is longer than mine um so Matt when the phone stops ringing when you're no longer a quarterback how did you process that well the last time this is a funny story the last time the phone rang for me Dan I was on an elliptical in 24-hour fitness and Buffalo Bills called me and I had that terrible last game I was already checked out but that was the last time the phone rang and you know for me me I was already done you know I didn't have the luxury of retiring on my own or like this is going to be my last year like it just it just ended and um I was there was a big sense of relief I think because I was just injuries mental like I was just ready to move on um but then time passes and you're like well like who who am I especially as an athlete I think we always go through like your identity right when you're done it's like am I a football player am I this who am I what's next what's the next step fortunately I was able to get into to Fox right away and and do the job and and grow into what we are in big newon kickoff which is the best and I love my job um but it was challenging and I think this pod is gonna cover just everything I like Jerry and I is I think our number one goal is like we just want to be like authentic to ourselves authentic to who's listening relatable like just because I was an NFL player doesn't mean like I had this luxurious lifestyle I went through a lot of Hell personal things like you know just a lot of stuff that I dealt with um that was really really challenging so I think to your point nothing's off limits you know like we just uh we're just kind of like two guys going through life with kids and we love sports and we we've had we've had like you said the ups were were great but then there's also a lot of downs and how do you kind of go through that so we'll cover all of that I think we'll cover all that we'll have we'll have a lot of guests on too that will probably be able to tell their story as well which is really uh cool closer to winning a championship USC football or the Knicks I know my answer but I'll I'll let you I know I know my answer who who did the Knicks pick up this off season did you guys get anybody Mel Bridges NOA Knicks strong and a resign yes we're we're running it back with Bridges the new edition I would I would probably say the Knicks I I look look my Trojans look good last week they look good last week but we are a long ways away from winning the national championship I think we're a couple years away but I I have faith we're moving the right the Knicks the Nicks had run and really quick again I watched the Nick's playoff game with Jerry last year and by the way I almost had a heart attack watching him watch his Nick play by the way they were up by like I don't even know they were up by say 15 at some point or 10 I'm like oh this game's in the back he's like it's not over I've seen thiso many times I'm like I'm like bro you are psychotic dude like it's okay like literally he was he was watching like this the whole time like didn't move I'm like that's a true story I was like you're insane dude I don't know how you guys do this so Jerry you won you'd concur that Knicks are closer to a championship obviously I think so I do you know the the expanded playoff system in college who knows maybe you get Cinderella stories which I think is going to be really cool this year no longer do you lose like a game or two and your season's kind of over but yeah I just look I I think the Knicks are close it's it's not great that they're you know in the East with the Celtics who are a beast but I am I I'm ready for some football but man am I ready for some basketball too Matt we were in a movie together so was it House Bunny yeah yeah now now we uh I I wasn't in a scene with you I was an officer who arrest Anna Ferris uh Sandler always put me in a police uniform he thought that was so funny that I'd have a mustache and I was police officer but you played you I played a police officer and by way some of our best work Dan that's some of our best work that's that's they're still talking about that there's still I was with uh Sean Salsbury I was in the scene with Shan Salsbury and uh Anna was in it and actually this is a true story so that day we shot at the mansion and everyone was like ah the Mansion like no we were like shooting a scene you know whatever in the in the pool it's a pool party scene and um I brought my this gonna sound bad I brought my young Cole who's 17 my M my mom came and Cole was probably two I don't know that was like 20 7 or six or I was right out of college and uh Demi Moore was was Demi Moore's I think was it rumor who was in it one of her daughters was in it and Demi Moore was sitting with my mom wow on like the front lawn babysitting coal while we were shooting the scene it's a true story it was it was awesome I'm like what is my life right now I'm in a Sandler movie by the way shirtless I'm like dude I do not want to be shirtless in this movie um and uh I actually I actually still randomly get texts because the movie I the movie is good like it still plays and I still uh still get texts every once in a while from it so I'm I'm proud of that work but did you go to the Playboy Mansion when you were at USC I never never not even close never even stepped foot in it outside of that so did Jerry me that did Jerry you go Jerry did I I've been to the mansion quite a few times not gonna lie I still have some uh I still have some pajamas that I just don't have the heart to throw away because I have some good memories going yes uh and we shot an episode of entage there as well but shooting there is a little different than going to a old school half party that's for sure I've been a handful of I you know it's weird to say this but I it was depressing when I went to the Playboy Mansion because the interior is stuck in the 70s true and like it was I remember I had uh Drew kryy and Ron Jeremy talking to me I mean how many times you start a story like that so I got Drew KY and Ron Jeremy asking me sports questions they had all of the waitresses were Playmates with paint they didn't have clothes on they had paint on their body and then heft came down with three Playmates and they were trying to prop him up and have him dance a little bit and I don't know it it it didn't have what I thought it was going to have I guess I think the you gotta been around going there in like the 70s I think if you wanted to really get the full experience you know I was a nobody in the 70s I couldn't have gotten in unless I just I'm just picturing you and Ron Jeremy talking Sports D sorry we were gonna do a podcast together but just letting you know Throwbacks um hey good luck with the podcast and uh so it comes out weekly it's available on YouTube Apple podcast Spotify and uh Sinclair is the one putting this out throwback Matt liner Jerry Ferrar thank you guys always great to talk to you appreciate it have fun up there in Michigan Matt thanks Dan thanks for having us man appreciate you thank you thank you good to see you see you buddy all right we'll take a break last call for phone calls what we learn what's in store for Monday after this