We sit down with Justin Cooper, the kid who played Max Reede, Jim Carrey's son in the 1997 blockbuster Liar Liar. Justin's "first call" story is a good one: he was standing in line at a Kinko's when his mom got word that Jim Carrey wanted to meet him first, just to make sure the two of them clicked before the cameras rolled.

Justin was working before most kids can read, starting with a Domino's commercial at four and rolling into his own series The Boys Are Back, two years on General Hospital, a Full House episode, and his own TGIF sitcom Brother's Keeper, all before his teens. He takes us behind the scenes of Liar Liar, from the Batmobile in Jim Carrey's backyard to a hidden Fire Marshal Bill cameo tucked into one of the movie's most emotional scenes, and the one bit that actually got overwhelming as a kid: the claw.

We get into the honest stuff too, the awkward jump from private school to public school, hiding his past to try to blend in, a protective mom who quietly intercepted some genuinely startling fan mail, and the slow decision to walk away as auditions started to feel like work. Then the reinvention: cold-emailing his way into an internship that became a 14-year career producing an overnight sports radio show, and finding a version of the business that finally fit.

It's funny, it's honest, and it's a reminder of exactly why this podcast exists, because the real stories behind the kids you grew up watching are always more interesting than anything that made it on screen.

🎥 What happens in this episode?

00:00 – Cold open: the prison mail

00:54 – The call at the Kinko's, and meeting Jim Carrey

03:41 – The Riddler costume and the Batmobile in the backyard

07:13 – How it started: Disneyland, headshots, and a Domino's commercial

14:09 – Full House, Brother's Keeper, and life on a sitcom

18:38 – After Liar Liar: buffet lines, prison mail, and a protective mom

24:08 – Jennifer Tilly, poker, and Meadows Oaks camp

28:46 – Private school, public school, and the bullying

35:42 – Sports radio, the listeners, and the claw

38:50 – Stepping away, the grind, and the awkward years

42:04 – Family, the money, and the Coogan account

47:27 – From intern to producer

Send us Your Feedback!

Follow, like, subscribe, and leave us comments! Check out more content on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TheNotSoLittleRascals

SOCIALS:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thenotsolittlerascals/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@the_not_so_lil_rascals

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thenotsolittlerascals

We sit down with Miko Hughes, who started working younger than anyone we've talked to yet, having been just over two years old when he played Gage Creed in the 1989 horror classic Pet Sematary.

His story starts before he could even walk, when his mom heard him spell a word from his car seat and decided, on the spot, to take him to Hollywood. She spent nine months getting past the front desk of the biggest kids' agency in town, and once she did, Miko booked the first three things he ever went out for. What followed was a run most actors dream of: the Kindergarten Cop line everyone still quotes (if you know, you know), Michelle's most out-of-pocket classmate on Full House, Wes Craven's New Nightmare, Spawn, and screen time with Danny DeVito, Tom Hanks, and Bruce Willis, all before he finished growing up.

We get into what it's like to have your earliest memories be movie sets, growing up on horror sets and sitcom sets, and the harder stuff too, a family that got rocky as the work became its livelihood, and money that vanished the way it did for so many kids of that era. Miko is open and clear-eyed about all of it, and about why he'd still do the whole thing over exactly the same way.

It's funny, it's honest, and it's a reminder of exactly why this podcast exists, because the real stories behind the kids you grew up watching are always more interesting than anything that made it on screen.

P.S: This was the first guest episode we ever recorded, and it showed. The audio was a mess and our 'production design' was two guys and a prayer. We spent the time and remnants of our child acting money to fix it because the conversation with Miko was just too good to bury. Thanks for bearing with us, rascals.

Fun Fact - The word “Like” is used 526 times in this episode.

🎥 What happens in this episode?

00:00 – Cold open, and welcoming Miko

01:21 – The call at 27 months old, and returning to the Pet Sematary house

04:09 – Realizing acting wasn't what every kid did

06:34 – Nine months at the agency door: the "MOBIL" story

09:46 – The audition grind, getting into character, and stretched resumes

17:46 – Siblings, homeschool, and growing up around adults

19:30 – Aging out, a rocky home, and stepping away

25:11 – Why this podcast exists, and working-man child actors

27:28 – Horror fandom, the cons, and a Gage Funko

30:26 – Are you proud of your body of work?

32:50 – The Kindergarten Cop line and the prop feeling

36:00 – His dad, the Coogan meetings, and the money that vanished

40:09 – Advice for a parent, and the last era of child actors

44:00 – Wes Craven, a good set, and finding his way back behind the camera

53:41 – Are you proud, and goodbye

Send us Your Feedback!

Follow, like, subscribe, and leave us comments! Check out more content on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TheNotSoLittleRascals

SOCIALS:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thenotsolittlerascals/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@the_not_so_lil_rascals

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thenotsolittlerascals

We sit down with Natanya Ross, known to a generation as Robyn Russo, the dark, sharp, unforgettable heart of The Secret World of Alex Mack.

Natanya's story starts earlier than almost anyone's, on stage as a baby and on Broadway before she ever set foot in Hollywood. We get into the call that changed her life & pulled her family west, the audition that was only supposed to last three episodes and turned into one of Nickelodeon's most beloved characters, and what it was like to grow up on camera, as the show became part of a generation's childhood.

We get into all of it, the family she was raised in, a momager who managed a remarkable career and the money that came with it, and the harder chapters that followed once the show ended and the anchor it gave her was gone. Natanya is open in a way few people ever are about the years she lost, the people she lost along the way, and the long road back. What she built on the other side of it, a life in recovery and mental health advocacy, is the part she's proudest of, and the part that almost never gets told.

There are lighter moments too, shut-down amusement parks for wrap parties, the cast that's still family decades later, a 90s love story with another familiar face, and a few set secrets she's never shared. We talk about owning your past instead of hiding from it, why the loudest stories about child actors are so often the wrong ones, and what it really means to still be here.

It's funny, it's honest, and it's a reminder of exactly why this podcast exists, because the real stories behind the kids you grew up watching are always more interesting, and more human, than anything that made it on screen.

🎥 What happens in this episode?

00:00 – Cold open: "We're so back"

00:31 – Welcome, and the Robyn Russo reaction

03:51 – From Asbury Park to Broadway to the call that moved her west

07:01 – Becoming Robyn: three episodes that turned into an icon

13:43 – The cast that became family

14:29 – Growing up edgy in young Hollywood

18:32 – The momager, the Coogan account, and a complicated home

24:00 – Acting as the first escape

32:13 – The end of Alex Mack and getting herself back on the show

37:01 – Life after the show and holding on

40:15 – The eight mile audition and losing everything

45:29 – The hardest years, and the moment things turned

46:57 – Treatment, purpose, and a career in recovery

49:21 – "Nothing cooler than being kind"

55:00 – A 90s love story

57:26 – "We're Still Here, Babe" and rewriting the narrative

1:00:21 – The documentaries, the safe set, and the real story

1:05:31 – Would you do it all again?

1:06:00 – Set secrets and one last Polaroid

Send us Your Feedback!

Follow, like, subscribe, and leave us comments! Check out more content on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TheNotSoLittleRascals

SOCIALS:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thenotsolittlerascals/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@the_not_so_lil_rascals

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thenotsolittlerascals