A Conversation with Jeremy Schwartz

Hi, everyone. I'm sure it's catching you by surprise to be hearing this voice instead of Jeremy's. But hello, I'm Emily Burke.

I'm the managing producer for American Criminal. I wanted to participate in today's bonus episode, so I could personally thank all of you for listening to the show, and supporting us by following and rating and leaving reviews.

American Criminal has been one of my favorite shows to work on, not only because I'm a true crime fan, but because of our writers, our editors, our sound designer, our senior producer, Joel Callan, are the best to work with, and of course you,

Jeremy, but we'll get to you in a second. I also want to shout out our composer, James Henderson, who composed all of the music that you hear in each episode. I'm just in awe of our team, and I'm so proud of how far we've come, so thank you.

Yeah, it's a pretty impressive feat.

80 episodes.

I didn't know how to read when we started doing this. So that was a big learning curve.

It's taught you how to read. That's great.

Yeah. No, the team's fantastic. From tip to stern, it really is a great group of people.

It's true.

Well, today's bonus episode is all about Jeremy Schwartz, the voice that you know and love. I've worked closely with Jeremy for almost two years, and I'm excited for you to get to know him a little better.

I am kind of thinking of this as my take on a mini version of a smartless or call her daddy episode. Have you ever heard of those podcasts before, Chair?

Um, yes. Okay. I have.

I have.

They're just interview shows. But how are you feeling? Are you ready to talk all about you?

Oh, man.

Yeah.

So much.

We're going to dive in to my first question.

Tell us a little bit about your background and how you got into acting and how you found yourself hosting a true crime podcast.

You know, I got into it the way most kids get into the business. My father had accrued a huge amount of gambling debt, and the family needed money. And so I was the best bet, no pun intended.

So they pinned everything on me, and it worked out.

Yeah.

No, my dad was an actor, and I got the bug from him, and I played Linus in a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving when I was in second grade, and I was hooked ever since then.

Did your dad do theater, or was it more TV film?

My dad did theater. He briefly went to the actor's studio back in the day day.

Nice.

He did a lot of radio theater in the 40s and early 50s. He was an extra in Blackboard Jungle. You know, some small things here, commercials and things like that, but mostly theater work.

Did you do stuff at Dallas Theater Center?

We have Mutuals, right? I mean, probably from DTC?

Yeah, I mean, it's such a— The pool was relatively small in Dallas, though it is deep and full of talent. I did two productions of A Christmas Carol. I did Lute.

Cupidaro was in that show. Oh, wow. It was Broadway's last Phantom of the Opera.

Yeah.

Yeah, it was a very cool time.

John Mosconi directed that show.

For context, I used to stage manage at Dallas Theater Center, and I've done so many versions of A Christmas Carol. It's crazy. That's probably their, like, long-lasting production that they've done.

It's— That's probably, as far as the work that I did there, that was the most fun.

I played Marley one year, and they dropped me in from the catwalks.

I mean, it was 30 feet upside down, like, wrapped around Mission Impossible style, my leg around the thing, and they dropped me, like, four inches off of the stage, and then I hung there for half of the scene. Wow.

And then demons came up out of the stage and unhooked me and popped me down. It was cuckoo. But a riot.

Delightful.

What about TV, though? I seem to remember you telling me you've played some criminals.

That's all I play, apart from when I do commercials. I'm either beaten, killed, arrested, or some combination of all three in every single thing I've done. Always a name like Snake or Biker Number One or Russ.

I mean, that's such a criminal's name. Come on, Russ. Yeah, yeah.

Machete. I played a dude named Machete.

It reminds me of Spy Kids, which you might not have seen.

I know, because I'm 53. So, but I know Robert Rodriguez directed it, and I know it.

I loved that movie.

People love that movie. I know people love that movie. I am not maligning that movie.

Well, are there any episodes of something we can tell people to go watch to see you in them?

There's a, I mean, it's a short scene, but for some reason, people know it.

Like, I did an episode of The Sopranos, and I had a line in that scene that for some reason, people are like, holy shit, that's you? And the line is, you're fucking with the Vipers, asshole.

That was good.

Bad, thanks. And then it was this shootout. And then, you know, I got killed.

Michael Imperioli killed me.

Whoa.

It'll be fun to bleep me out so much.

I was just thinking about the bleeps. Yes.

And I'm, I apologize for that. But again, that's just my personality. It's who I am.

I know.

I'm trying to be judicious with it.

I love it about you.

But yeah, that was my episode of The Sopranos, called The Ride.

It was the season premiere of the last season, I think.

I'm gonna go find you. That's cool.

It's out there. All this stuff is out there.

So are there any cool people that you've worked with? Do you have any notable stories from being on set?

Yes. I worked on a film called Staten Island, which is also known as Little New York. Ethan Hawke and I played septic tank workers.

Vincent D'Onofrio played a mob boss. The fabulous, amazing, iconic Seymour Cassell played a deaf mute butcher who dismembered people for the mob.

So, that was cool because that was the first thing where I had, like, wow, I have three weeks on this movie, and I actually have lines and stuff like that. And the first person to approach me was Vincent D'Onofrio at lunch.

I was sitting by myself, and he sat down next to me, and he said, so-and-so, I speak so highly of you, and I just wanted to come and introduce myself. And I was completely, I mean, I had food in my mouth. I was terrified.

But he was so super, super nice. Ethan Hawke, we had some really cool conversations. He's a very cool dude.

That's so great.

Yeah.

Okay, so I'm looking at your IMDb right now, and it's crazy how many of these pictures don't look like you at all.

But what's this one with the beard and all the blood?

That was a movie called...

Oh, this is when you were a machete.

Yes, that's me as a machete.

Almost home.

Almost home. I get beaten by a methed up homeless kid with a 2x4.

Well, the blood looks real. I'm impressed.

That was made by my friends, Jessica Blank and Eric Jensen. Amazing artists.

Okay. Can you remind me who you played in 1865, our audio drama?

Yes, I was Edwin Stanton.

That's right.

I was the man. Well, Lincoln was the man. But in terms of 1865, the drama series, I was Edwin Stanton, who was Lincoln's secretary of war, and the first season centered around him, and season two centered around President Grant.

Was that the first podcast that you've done?

Yeah.

Well, yes. The short answer is yes. I was approached by theater friends who were also podcasting people, as it turned out.

So they brought me on for that, and I met Lindsay, and it was just a pleasure. It's my favorite thing that I've done by far.

I love that.

Yeah, for sure.

Well, I want to know what podcast you listen to, if any.

So, I'm ashamed to say this. I'm one of those people like, I don't listen to podcasts.

That's okay.

I listen to music. I'm a music guy. So that's what I do.

If I go out, I like to go out by myself, put headphones on, and I listen to music, and I read. But it's always music.

Yeah. Like what?

I hate the genre of music, but this particular band, I am completely obsessed with Gojira, so I've been listening to a lot of them lately. But I tend to stick with a lot of, like, West Coast weirdo hip hop.

Like, I like Madlib and Ono and Teebs, and the whole LA jazz scene, I think, is very, very cool. I dig these Coast stuff. Mendeski Martin, like, kind of older stuff, you know.

Yeah.

When I go back to edit this, I'll look up a couple of these names here.

Yeah, for sure, because I sound very old. And then at the same time, I sound very young.

Yes, you do. I always have to have something playing in the background, like from the second I wake up, I have to either turn on a podcast or listen to music. There just has to be noise happening for me at all times.

Yeah.

And you know, a lot of it too, and this is different because this has to do with like me going, like I don't go to the theater. I don't go to see plays. A lot of it has to do with I have anxiety and I'm awful with names.

And so I'm so terrified of having to remember somebody's name that I've known for 20 years that I often will just not go just based on that. But at the same time, it's also what I do for a living.

Like I don't know any accountants who show up at another CPA's office to watch other people account on their day off.

Right.

So I don't want to go to work when I'm not working.

I hear you.

I know that I sound like a jerk when I, and I own that. I take complete ownership of that, but that's just, it's just not my thing.

I was just gonna say, I have anxiety too. I have trouble sitting there watching something that I didn't work on. I don't know what that really says about me, but.

I get very jealous.

I mean, I won't lie. I get very jealous if there's something that I'm watching that I'm like, I would have done that like this, and then I get obsessed with that, and then I'm like, that's rude. You're a jerk.

You should not even be here. And then, you know, there's all of that that I got to talk to my therapist about, so. Right.

Yay therapy.

I'm proud of you. I'm curious. Has hosting this show changed how you view crime or the justice system?

Is there anything from a story that we've told that has shifted your perspective?

I don't know that it's necessarily shifted my perspective because I've had a large hand in the approach that we take, which for me is the really interesting thing, which is I'm fascinated.

I'm just fascinated by the psychology of these people, and why they do what they do, you know? Like, how does it make sense to you? What made you think you could get away with it, and why?

And the thing that I have discovered, I think the thing that I've learned from this is that the one thing that they share, all the criminals, the one thing that they share is the sense of entitlement.

I could agree with that.

This notion that they deserve to be able to do it. That's the one takeaway. Whether they are dirt poor or millionaires, and it could be a completely benign crime, or it could be murder, but it's the same mentality behind it.

And that's what's so fascinating to me.

Yeah, for sure. What are some cases that we haven't covered that you would like to cover down the line?

Gosh. I am very interested, and I know that there, you know, we've got some other shows that kind of deal with politics already, but... and we've touched on politics.

Violence in politics, granted, but with Harvey Milk and the Weathermen. Corruption in law enforcement, I think, would be something...

Like, I'd be interested in taking a look at not just Frank Serpico specifically, but whistleblowers within law enforcement. I think that would be really interesting to do a series, like a four-part series, different dude, each episode. Yes.

I would love to. I mean, I'd love to. God, I hate using that word in terms of this topic.

But I know the scandal in Pennsylvania about the youth prisons, like the judge who was taking all the money to convict all the cash for kids thing.

Yeah.

I mean, it was right on the heels of that, that you had the whole Penn State shower scandal thing. So, you know, again, it's people in a position of power think they can do whatever they want to do.

Yes. Which is a great segue to asking you what series has stood out or surprised you the most.

I'm gonna, I would have to say Georgia Tan. I did not know anything about Georgia Tan. For those who don't remember, she was the baby thief who sold kids.

But she also didn't steal just any baby. They were all good looking white babies, and they all went to rich white people, and all of that kind of stuff. And she was an awful person.

Like she dealt with a lot of Hollywood people, a lot of politicians, a lot of socialites. So she stole kids. But she also did a lot to change the adoption system in this country for the better.

That's incredibly conflicting. Having some dear friends who have two adopted boys who are just the cat's meow. Yeah, I would have to say that the Georgia Tan story was probably the most interesting to learn about.

Right.

Yeah. Well, Jeremy, thank you. We're over time.

Is there anything you would like to say to our audience here before we wrap this up?

First of all, thank you for listening to our show. We all appreciate it. It's nice to know that people are listening and that people like it.

And if you have not done so, please feel obligated to leave a review or a rating or a bit of encouragement or tell somebody to listen. And yeah, no, thank you all for being a part of the show. Apart from our crew, you guys are the other half.

Yeah, thank you.

I'd love for there to be more engagement. If you want to go to americancriminal.com/survey and give us some feedback on the show, if you have any series you would like to recommend, please head over to americancriminal.com/survey.

Yes, and I tell you what. Also, don't be afraid, because like I just said, I don't really listen to podcasts. So if there are podcasts that you all like, feel free to suggest them to me, because I should be better about that.

Like, I admit that. I should be better about that. For Emily, I will listen to Smart Listen.

Thank you.

Okay, well, thanks, Jer. This was lovely.

Yeah, thank you.

Yeah, I'll talk to you soon.

Okay.