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If there’s any actor in Hollywood who I’m pretty sure has a painting of himself again in an attic somewhere, it’s Rob Lowe. The 54-year-old actor, whose face could be found on posters on a lot of teenagers’ bedroom walls in the 1980s (guilty), stopped by The Ellen DeGeneres Show to talk about his one man show and boast about his amazing family.
Rob, currently appearing on the CBS drama Code Black, told Ellen he got the bug to go out on the road from his Parks and Recreation co-star, Aziz Ansari. He describes the show, where he tells stories from his 2011 memoir Stories I Only Tell My Friends and the 2014 follow-up Love Life as “like a TED talk, but a little less pretentious…and a lot less smart.” He says he’s doing the show “in lieu a third book,” sharing behind the scenes “war stories” from his long career and tales of raising his two sons.
He was just in Atlanta and I could kick myself for missing this show, as it sounds awesome. In a press release promoting his show, Rob said:
“This isn’t a regurgitation of the books, because that wouldn’t be very much fun. This is very much its own beast, but it does have some of the same feel of the books.”
“I decided to put what would be the third book into a show where I could go out directly to an audience and share and have an exchange with them directly,” he says. “Frankly, I love meeting people, being out in front of them, hearing their comments. It’s really fun.”
One aspect of being on the road that Rob admits is a positive is his ability to get a good night’s sleep without the interruption of his wife, Sheryl Berkoff. Rob revealed on Ellen that “I sleep better on the road because I’m not with my wife.” The crowd groaned, which prompted him to add, “People, it’s the truth. I love her enough to speak the truth.” He went on to clarify that his wife often stays up until “5 or 6 in the morning” playing Family Feud on her iPad, and when she’s at a loss for an answer, “[She] wakes me up like, ‘Honey, honey! Quick, name five foods that are gross.’ I’m like, I just want to go to bed.”
Weird late night gaming addiction aside, Sheryl is a great parent, as is Rob. Their sons, 23-year-old John Owen and 25-year-old Matthew are smart and accomplished, and have the brightest of futures ahead. John is graduating from Stanford University in June and Matthew is taking his law school finals. Rob told Ellen, “So Matthew’s the lawyer in the family. I figured I can get someone cheap to do my legal work.”
When it comes to John, who Rob pointed out was “the youngest published author in stem cell research when he was an assistant at the Eli Broad stem cell lab” and is “graduating with straight A’s,” he is talking about joining the family business and pursuing an acting carer. Rob sarcastically joked, “Look, let’s face it: that’s great because I think we can all agree that what society needs is one less that’s going to cure cancer and one more actor.”
Ellen popped up a photo of Rob and the cast of The Outsiders and noted that it’s been 35 years since that film’s release. Ouch. Of his fellow cast members in that classic movie, Rob said, “Those are my frat brothers. I didn’t go to college basically, so that’s my fraternity, those are my first roommates.” And now I feel old – but my crush on Rob lives on.
On the episode, Rob also played “Mystery Word” with Ellen. Does he say “Swiss cheese” and win the audience members a special prize? Watch the clip to find out.
Photos: Getty Images, Instagram, WENN.com, Pacific Coast News
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