Jesse Kove - Flip Phones & Peptides

Welcome to the Tracksuit Podcast! 

Hosts James Cullen Bressack and BJ Hendricks kick off episode one with actor Jesse Kove - son of Karate Kid legend Martin Kove - who showed up late, sans tracksuit, and immediately made himself at home. They cover Jesse's career in action films, working alongside Jon Voight and Kelsey Grammer in The Last Firefighter, his playable character in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, the upcoming Boris Is Dead, peptide therapy, men's health, ditching his smartphone for a flip phone, and his work with Wings of Rescue - flying hundreds of dogs to no-kill shelters across the country.

🐾 Support Wings of Rescue: wingsofrescue.org 
📸 Follow Jesse Kove: @jessekove
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Creators and Guests

Host

BJ Hendricks

Actor and producer with deep roots in the business. BJ brings an authentic, no-holds-barred perspective on the realities of making it and staying in Hollywood.

Host

James Cullen Bressack

Award-winning filmmaker with over 25 directing credits, and over 150+ producing credits. Known for his work across horror, action, and thriller genres, James brings decades of behind-the-camera experience and raw industry insight to every conversation.

Producer

James Rundquist

What is The Tracksuit Podcast?

The Tracksuit Podcast is media industry professionals sit down with fellow creatives, filmmakers, and experts for wide-ranging authentic, unfiltered conversations about the entertainment industry - covering everything from the business of entertainment to the unexplained. Hosted by BJ Hendricks and James Cullen Bressack.

James: Welcome to the Tracksuit podcast. Hello and welcome to episode one of the Tracksuit podcast. Here we sit with my co-host, BJ Hendricks. I'm James Cullen Bressack and our guest today is Jesse Kove, actor. Awesome, dude. Jesse, we're pretty good friends, right? So this should be an easy first podcast. Obviously, you didn't get the memo. You didn't wear a tracksuit. You showed up a little late. So it's gonna be a short episode. So I guess we'll just end it here, guys.
BJ: Thanks for having me. Thank you for tuning in today. All right, thanks
James: for coming in this week. No, so Jesse, so...
Jesse Kove: Gotta bring in tracksuits for people, just have a closet. Yeah,
James: yeah, I don't think mine would fit you. That's fine. But I do want to play something because I feel like this sums up me and your friendship. Okay. I want to play this recording for everybody.
BJ: I'm about to sit down with my family and-
James: Dude, I'm in the middle of some stuff. What do you need right now? You called me! No, I didn't, Jesse, alright? Yes, you did. Okay, maybe I did, but like, I don't have time for this.
Jesse Kove: Anytime James is on the phone with you, if he says he's got to take this, it means he's got to get off the phone. Or he wants to get off the phone. Oh, Sony's calling me. I got Lionsgate's calling me. I got to take this right now.
James: I just like to mess with Jesse because he's just so friendly. He's one of like the nicest people I know. So he's the only person who you could call and pretend that they were bothering you by calling you. And at first he'd be like... Did I do something wrong? Instead of going like, wait, you called me. It took like two responses before you went into the, you called me, which I thought was pretty funny.
Jesse Kove: Love the banter. The banter's good.
James: Well, anyways, getting into Jesse, you know, Jesse, I wanted to talk to you real quick because you've had like a pretty great career as an actor. You're doing a lot of action movies. You're pretty great. No, no, no. Fantastic career. But you have been building, you've been doing a ton of stuff, leading man territory on some pretty big things at the moment. Thank you. But that all started, you started as a kid in the house. You had chores as a kid, right? You have a twin sister. Yep. And so you guys probably divvied up the chores. So you're like, what? In your house, it was taking out the trash. Uh, making your bed, you know, like cleaning the dishes, sweeping the leg. How often were you required to sweep the leg?
Jesse Kove: Oh my God. Um, I've never heard this before. Um, I'm, I'm, this is the first for a first debut for a podcast. Uh, we'd sleep the leg pretty regularly, especially during sports. Um, I hear that a lot. Uh, yes, that motto is, it was a part of my life for sure. Yeah. Through my dad. But yeah, that's part of growing up too, is growing up in the business. My dad is an actor, Martin Kove. Most notably from Karate Kid, Cobra Kai, Cagney and Lacey, Rambo. But yeah.
James: Boris is dead.
Jesse Kove: Boris is dead, that's right. With you, with you. That's right. The Bubbas. The Bubbas. We're gonna get into that. But yeah, that was an amazing part of my upbringing was being in Hollywood during the 90s and early 2000s, growing up in the business. It was such a pleasure and a joy. I have endless experiences with positivity.
James: What's awesome about your career is I think you got a lot of amazing life lessons acting-wise and really career-wise from your dad. You've built this on your own. You have gotten so many amazing accolades as an actor and done so many awesome projects where, I mean, you were just recently the right hand of the president in President Downe, saving the world, flying outside of a plane. Am I allowed to talk about your thing you just did with Autumn?
Jesse Kove: Oh yeah, absolutely. Just not where it's airing yet.
James: He's the lead of a pretty awesome romance film. There was also a reality show that was shot behind the scenes with
Jesse Kove: it. One of the stars of Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, Whitney Levitt. It was her first movie. They secured her to do the first movie with me and she was awesome.
James: But Jesse is one of the most dedicated actors that I know. I would say that every single day he is either filming an audition or acting in something. Literally, he's like, oh yeah, I'm going to Atlanta for two weeks. Oh yeah, I'll be in Nashville for two weeks. He's filming something at all times. What's it like staying busy in this business, especially in a time where a lot of people are not busy?
Jesse Kove: Thanks, man. I so appreciate that. It means a lot. It really does. You know, I stay busy not just because I'm a tremendous actor, but I really feel like I stay busy because of my relationships that I've created with people that you understand. Like, that is such an important part of the business is creating these relationships. And then every time, you know... I get rehired so much by people I've worked with all the time because when I show up on set, I want to be a joy to work with. I want to uplift everybody. I don't like egos on set. Sometimes I'll be very firm about how I maybe think about something or it should be this way. That's not coming from an ego standpoint. He's bought everybody's Starbucks before. He did, yeah.
James: He bought everybody's Starbucks on set one time. No, you were by far the nicest dude on set.
BJ: Like, you make everybody feel welcome.
Jesse Kove: Oh, you guys know how to make a movie and make people feel welcome. And I think that's, you know, you want to work with people that you enjoy working with. You're like, oh, he's gonna work hard, he's gonna show up on time. And I think no matter what level you're at.
James: I mean, I would say that, you know, 100% in this business, it's really interesting because realistically, like, I'm more inclined to work with somebody, and I'm not saying the people I work with aren't amazingly talented, but I'm more inclined to work with somebody who is maybe slightly less talented than somebody else just because they're easier to work with. You know, I think that some people leave out and don't realize how important it is to just be easy to work with and fun to be around. Because I'm like, okay, maybe this person might be the most talented person in the world, but they're a dick. Like, I'm not going to want to deal with that for, you know, 30 days, 40 days, because I'm actually going to get a worse performance out of that person because I'm going to be not enjoying making the movie.
BJ: Be stressed out.
James: Exactly.
BJ: Jesse's by far the nicest dude on set. Anytime I get to be in anything with Jesse, I'm always like, oh my god, it's gonna be with Jesse. Today's day is Jesse's day. I get to be with Jesse. Have you guys shared some scenes yet, though? Me and Jesse have never been in anything together. We've been in three movies together. Not in the same moment. In the same scene. No, we did The Workout.
James: Yeah, you did the workout, you did Complex Texas, and you did Boris is Dead. Boris
BJ: is Dead, which debuts on Monday, by the way. Beverly Hills Film Festival. I'd imagine by the time this comes out, it's already debuted.
James: Yes, yes.
Jesse Kove: It has already debuted. You guys loved it and you gave it 100% of Rotten Tomatoes. It's the same for you guys. Such mutual respect for you two. Sometimes it isn't always nice on set. Sometimes it's hard. It's difficult. There's things, and that's part of it. Lifting people up, there's no reason that you shouldn't be making movies and having a good time.
James: I've always said that the worst day on set is still probably better than any day in my normal life. We get to play pretend for a living.
Jesse Kove: Why would we not enjoy that? Those challenges are always fun to be in and figure out and you're working with a team of people that want to help you. It's amazing.
James: But I think uniquely you have taken like a mindset and you've done this from a very young age. You consistently work, you put yourself out there and is this like you have a goal in how you're building your resume or do you look at acting almost like a muscle and you like to, you know, like just like you hit the gym all the time? Are you just getting your reps in by going on set? Like what is the mindset behind, you know, wanting to work as often as you do?
Jesse Kove: I always say I never want to be pigeon-holed to one type of character. I know I do a lot of action stuff because I really do enjoy it, but I always say yes to almost everything because I want to play different characters. I want people to see me and be like, oh, he was so funny as that guy, or he was so dramatic, or he was great in action, or whatever.
James: Very different. Your character in Boris is Dead is very different than a lot of the stuff.
Jesse Kove: Yeah.
BJ: So I haven't read the whole script of Boris is Dead. On purpose. I play Boris in Boris is Dead, so I don't make it very far in the movie. But I never read the script, so what is your role in Boris is Dead?
Jesse Kove: I play one of the police officers who's coming in to investigate the whole situation, and my dad, we're partners.
James: He's wet behind the ears.
BJ: I think your dad's playing a cop too.
Jesse Kove: Yeah, he's the rookie cop, the dad's the veteran cop.
James: And
Jesse Kove: our relationship in the movie is so funny together. With James, we created these funny scenarios. A lot of improv, yeah. A lot of improv. It wasn't like two tough cops coming in trying to figure it out. It was totally like, what the hell is going on? And there's like a fight scene that he and I have in the car where we're fighting each other and he slams my head into the wheel of the car. It's just really fun. And that kind of fun, playful stuff is amazing. I mean, talk about difficult situations. My dad and I had, we were on set and we had flights booked because we had to go do another project. Remember, we were trying to figure out what the thing, and then we were like, no, no, no, we'll move this flight. And then we were able to finish the scene. It was great. We're so glad that we stayed.
James: Yeah, it was a blast and I think we got some really good stuff because of it.
Jesse Kove: But yes, that's why, to finish your question, I say yes to a lot of stuff that I hope is good, but I want to stay busy because I want to stretch the muscles and try different things. That's so important, I feel like, to do. Like when someone says, oh, it should be offer only with that. Yeah, sure, that's really nice, but audition for that. Give them a thing and see what you throw at that. Do you enjoy auditioning? I do. You know, funny enough, you know, Josh Kelly, good friend of ours, we audition. He's my main guy that I audition with. You do with David a lot too.
James: And David Lawrence as well.
Jesse Kove: Yeah, they see my two guys. And I have one other professional place I go to. And then I have, of course, my acting class I go to as well. But Josh and I really, like, we take it seriously. Like, we work these scenes. Like, we'll get into my room. I have an entire setup. Not as elaborate as this, but... Tracksuit podcast. Yeah, exactly. And, you know, we really work these scenes. We care about it. We want to try things. And it's always a fun—we literally, he and I will come into the room together and we're like, oh, we love acting. And we'll get into these moments and try to find things. You know, I've booked many things with him. And I've also booked, you know, David taped Magnum PI with me. That was fun that he booked me on that. That was great.
James: Well I actually like to talk about like a moment that like exists and it's behind the scenes moment that I know about that I think is kind of powerful about actors that you're working with and helping one another and it's when you were going to audition for General Hospital and you were putting it together with Josh and you asked Josh hey why have you not You've done this. This would be perfect for you, right? And then he does the audition and now he's been on GH for three years.
BJ: Two or three hundred episodes.
Jesse Kove: I did not know that story.
James: Literally, that was Jesse pushing him to go on tape for this when he was not sent the audition.
Jesse Kove: Yeah, we were traveling and I got this audition and I was like, dude, you'd be great for this. He's like, I know a couple of people that run that show and I was like, dude, tell them that you want to audition for this. He was very humble. He's like, I'm like, dude, this is how the business works. You message someone that you know, you do a good tape, you're a good actor. I was like, dude, do it. And this was during COVID when nobody was working. And I didn't care, we want each other to win.
James: But that's the great thing about Jesse is he's not only a huge champion of himself, but he's a champion of his friends and those around him. 100%. I mean, I think the proof is in that.
BJ: Yeah, I mean, I love, like, I mean, James has been so supportive of my career. I've been so supportive of his and like meeting you the same way. I love that it's a group of friends that cheers each other on so much. When somebody else does good, we all succeed. It's such a great group, which I think is hard to find in Hollywood sometimes.
Jesse Kove: It is very, for me personally, hard to grasp when people are not full of either gratitude or wanting others to win, because it's such a selfless point, but it's also like... How can you not? That's what it's all about, is helping other people, and it comes back to you in different ways. They won't forget it. It's like what keeps the world working. It's like working on a movie set. You want your crew to be happy. You want them to eat well. You want them to get paid well. That's your team, your army. How can you not share that with other people?
James: I also not only get excited when I see friends succeeding, but it also, I think, reaffirms to me that my dreams are possible, that the things around me that I believe are possible are possible because I see the wins you have, the wins you have, the wins other friends of mine have, and I go, okay, great. It's important to keep driving because it is possible. It's inspiring. It's inspiring. I see your
Jesse Kove: stuff. I'm like, oh, he's doing it. I can do it.
BJ: And just to even be able to be in some of these things is absolutely amazing. Just to go back to Martin Cove, I was telling James yesterday, I'm like, Martin Cove in Karate Kids scared the shit out of me as a kid. I was tormented by this dude. I was like, oh my God, that's the worst dude on the planet. And everybody was such a huge fan of his as I got into the business. And then now to be in movies with you and your dad is super crazy awesome.
Jesse Kove: It is cool. I feel very grateful I get to do that with him. It must
James: be really special to have those moments and those things you could look at of you guys together.
Jesse Kove: Thank you. And you understand your dad being in the business. To sum it up, I always think to myself, in 50 years from now, I can look back at all this stuff because it's forever. It's like every different age group I have, I'm like, oh my god, we did that in 2008 or whatever. There we were you know and I could show my kids or whatever and but yeah it is very special we push each other you know we care about each other a lot and he's been so helpful in my career and just watching him do what he does and it's been it's been such a joy. I'm actually about to go off to Utah at the end of this month to go jump on a project that he's doing. It's like a fun alien movie with Casper Van Dien, Mickey Rourke, Brandon. Yeah, it's fun. I can't say too much, but it's a fun project.
BJ: That is awesome. You've been traveling a lot to Comic Cons.
Jesse Kove: As well, type of cons, I should say. How is that? They're so fun. I feel like a lot of movie stars or actors used to look down on them because they thought like, oh, if you're doing Comic Cons, it's because you don't have money and you're just getting a quick buck.
James: Now they make hand over fist money at these things. Crazy, yeah, crazy money.
Jesse Kove: I don't know what that's like, but... It's so much fun because you really get to meet your fans and resonate with them and hear stories. And it's such a great way to extend yourself to fans and to see how much they love your work. And it's so cool. And then you meet other actors that you know. For us, there's other actors that are there that we know that you've become friends with. It's always funny, you're in a green room with 30 actors that are from Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, or whatever. It's like the most hilarious amalgamation of people. I became friends with Dogpool, Peggy from Deadpool. I became friends with her and her parents because they go to Comic-Con. I
James: like how he doesn't say, I've met the dog. He goes, I became friends with the dog. Peggy loves me.
Jesse Kove: Peggy, I know you love me, Peggy.
James: So I do want to take a moment actually to pivot there because you've done some really incredible work in animal activism for dogs. You work with a lot of dog rescues. You want to talk about that for a second?
Jesse Kove: I mean, you know David Chokuchi, the actor we did President Down together, and he is huge in animal rescue, and so we started talking on set, and he brought me into this organization he works with called Wings of Rescue, which is basically, they charter these big cargo planes, and we ship hundreds of dogs at a time all around the country that are on the list for euthanasia.
James: To no-kill shelters, right?
Jesse Kove: Exactly, to no-kill shelters, because there's more space in other parts of the country than in Los Angeles, which is really overcrowded. So I've been heavily involved with him in that and we fly together on these cramped little planes and we have a blast. We just love doing it. It's such a joy and fills our spirit up and it's such a blessing we get to do that.
James: And you have a special needs dog yourself at home. I do.
Jesse Kove: I have two pit bulls. One's a tripod. Bubba, he's amazing, my little boy. I rescued him from Mexico and I'm still trying to get the meatball over.
James: Meatball's been to your house before.
Jesse Kove: I don't know if he's hanging out with Bubba though, but anyway.
James: Meatball was there for movie night. Oh, that's right.
Jesse Kove: James's French Bulldog is absolutely the most adorable. The meat. The meatball. He's amazing. But you're an animal lover too, man. You love cats. Yes. I love that about you.
James: Yeah, I love cats. I love cats. I love my Frenchie. You know, I love animals. I feel like, you know, who wouldn't?
Jesse Kove: It's true.
James: It's just like a little ball of love that chases you around.
Jesse Kove: It boosts the morale. I have this idea. I think that there should be a company that always has dogs or just a dog on a movie set. They're the morale dog. 100%. They just boost everyone's morale. They walk around all day. They're always there every day.
James: I'm actually surprised that they don't do that for, you know, child actors on set, that they don't have, you know, an animal, you know, to hang out with them. Like, they have a studio teacher, they should have also, like, a puppy.
BJ: Jon Todd Van Damme had his dog on set.
James: Yes, Van Damme did.
Jesse Kove: He got, like, those crazy days where people are tired.
James: Well, Van Damme doesn't go anywhere without his dog
Jesse Kove: Lola. You know, Woofies comes around and everyone's like, Woofie! And then, you know, we go back to work and then everybody's happy. Yeah.
BJ: My partner and I, we just saw a hotel. I believe it was in Canada somewhere. I'd have to see exactly where that had a dog, a gorgeous dog that you could rent for the day. Wow. It would just come into your room and hang out. But you just rent it for the day? Rent for the day. You could take it on walks. You could do whatever you want to do.
Jesse Kove: You can rent me for the day. I'll
BJ: come and hang out with you. I am also rentable by the day. Minutes or hours.
James: It's up to you. Let's just call his agent. That's how we got him here. We rented him for the day. That is true. Today, he's pretending as an actor to be our friend. So, Jesse, why do you have a flip phone? Are you selling drugs? Yeah, Jesse has a flip phone. Oh, wow. Yeah, so I...
Jesse Kove: It's so funny you mention this. I recently... Hopefully you don't see that number. I recently, you know, was talking to my girlfriend, Shelby, who you're friends with. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Probably love Shelby. Shout out Shelby. Love you, Shelby. Love you, Shelby. I love you so much. She just calls a spade a spade with me. She's just like, you're on your phone too much. And sometimes that can affect your relationship and the communication. Especially in the day and age we live in, you come home and you're on your phone or whatever. And I was basically like, you're totally right. So I basically got this flip phone to offset...
James: With a picture of Shelby as the background. He said
Jesse Kove: To offset that addiction because I'm totally on my phone too much, whether it's social media. How many times do you grab your phone for no reason? Just to look. I'm obsessed with it. I have
James: a problem where I grab my phone and I go, wait, what was I... I did it today. I grabbed it for a reason. What am I doing and how am I suddenly looking at cat videos? This is the first step in admitting you have a problem. Yes, the first step of video. But Jesse used to do the thing that I call the uh-huh, where I'd be talking to him and he'd be like, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh.
Jesse Kove: Not anymore. So the flip phone, is it helping? You actually cannot believe how much it helps right away.
James: So is it a separate number or is it the same number?
Jesse Kove: Separate number. I haven't been given this. No, you're in there. I
James: might be in there, but I don't have that number.
Jesse Kove: So it's like, cause you immediately like, you know, like, I'll be honest, like I'll be driving in my car and I'll have my phone on the magnet thing and I'll like, you know, whether it's Instagram or you pull up a documentary or whatever, you know, you're, you're on your phone.
James: You pull up a documentary while you're driving.
Jesse Kove: Sure. Yeah, sometimes. You just said, oh, you're going to pull up a track adventure?
James: Or a Netflix show in traffic.
Jesse Kove: We're in LA, there's traffic all the time.
BJ: Or when he is in the back of a nice SUV. That's right. Which I see a lot of times.
Jesse Kove: But therein lies the problem. It's like, you know, so also I realized like I don't have to answer the phone every single moment someone calls or like, you know, text message reply every time. You can get back to them in an hour or 30 minutes or five minutes, whatever. So it's been really like, you feel like you have more time and more space.
James: So I got a work phone that I thought I was going to do the same thing with, so I got it as an Android because I'm an iPhone user and I just can't figure out how to use it. So I literally, I just don't get back to people on it. I literally have now found a way to reroute it to my phone. I think it's cool. I don't use the Android phone at all. I should probably switch it to a flip phone. That probably would have been much easier. It's so nice to dial a number.
BJ: No social media or anything on that flip phone? Nothing. See, I feel like that's a hookup right there because that Instagram is addictive. I just want to scroll, scroll, scroll. It is. It's supposed to be. Now, don't get me wrong. Sometimes it's inspiring because you get to see what your friends like Jesse and Josh Kellyanne. Put a time limit on it. It needs to be a timeline. We just saw Shark Tank this one of the past weeks that had these guys had come out with a card where parents can like Bluetooth the card to the phone and the kids cannot get on any site that they choose to do it until the card is clicked back on. Yeah, I need somebody to do that to me.
James: I do too. And let's be honest here. When we go to the bathroom, how
Jesse Kove: long are we sitting in the bathroom for? Extra time. Extra time. Half an hour, right?
BJ: Especially with me because I got a bidet and I love a bidet. Let me tell you how much I love my bidet.
James: He's at a warm toilet seat waiting.
BJ: It's ready for scroll.
James: I literally sit there like before going to bed and I'm like, all right, let me just check, you know, check my phone real quick. I'll look at like Instagram and I'll scroll for what feels like 10 minutes and I'll be like, wait, it's been two and a half hours. How is that possible? How is two and a half hours past?
BJ: Booty be clean as a motherfucker on that thing. Booty be clean as a motherfucker. I didn't hit that button three or four times on that bidet. I think BJ's
James: doing a whole different thing than laying in bed scrolling. He's like, oh, I'm just chilling on the bidet.
BJ: He'll come out there like a full shower by the time I'm
Jesse Kove: done. If you haven't used the bidet, it's pretty amazing.
James: So guys, get yourself a bidet. I think it's weird that we're not set up. Most European restrooms have bidets. We are not set up for them. Vegas, a lot of bidets. We are not set up for it in America.
Jesse Kove: They want you to scroll, post that you're there.
BJ: But Dave will help you gamble more and more.
Jesse Kove: That's my detox thing. I've only done it for a few days. It's been really cool. So if you get a call from my 818 number. Oh yeah, okay. Ooh, 818. It's an old school LA.
James: Yeah. That seems like the number to prank him on.
Jesse Kove: I'll be like, Jesse, I don't have time for this.
BJ: I'll be like, did I call you? We'll put that in the comments down below.
Jesse Kove: Are you guys excited about the release of Boris is Dead coming out this week?
BJ: I'm ecstatic because it's the biggest thing I've ever been in.
Jesse Kove: I have not chosen to see anything because I wanted to be watching it with an audience, which I'm very excited about.
BJ: I got a sneak peek back in the day on James' phone of James goes, do you want to see something of yourself? And normally I go, no, because I don't like watching myself on things. But James showed me just a clip of before anything was really, really done. And I was like, holy shit, that's me. With actors I look up to so much. How I get killed in this movie is insane and it's brutal.
James: And it's not a spoiler because it's in the title. Yeah, Boris is dead.
Jesse Kove: James got on my case because I put a post up about some photos. I'm sorry for whoever powers be in this movie.
James: It was a little showy. It was a little spoilery. I
BJ: didn't know as many because, like I said, I didn't read the script, so I had no clue how many people die in this movie. That's a lot of doubt. Well,
James: now he only knows it because of Jesse's post. I
BJ: took
Jesse Kove: that one off. I took that one off.
James: I said, wait, that dude's got a bullet hole in him. I was like, James, you just got hit in the head.
Jesse Kove: Nobody's going to, I was like, he's like, no, there's a bullet hole in his head.
James: Yeah, I got hit in the head with a bullet.
Jesse Kove: But yes, it's an exciting time. I'm excited for this film. I've got a lot of cool stuff coming out. What I'm really excited about is this firefighter movie I did with Jon Voight and Kelsey Grammer.
James: Yes, yeah. I wasn't sure if that was allowed to be talked about. I would have brought it up.
Jesse Kove: Yeah, yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, they're looking to get a theatrical release for it now, and then I think it's gonna go on Paramount Plus after that. Amazing.
James: What was it like working with a legend like Jon Voight? Same. I saw your
Jesse Kove: social media stuff that was absolutely amazing. He's amazing. I mean, he's like 86, and he is still so with it. Not that anyone in that age shouldn't be, but I'd show up on set and he'd shadowbox me. He would try to hit me, and I'd be like, all right, Jon, ow, ow. You know, and I mean, he's just so with it. I mean, he shows up on set. He knows your lines, his lines. I mean, he like, he'll get there. He kind of like touches things like, okay, I'm here. We're doing this. All right. You know, he's, he's so present with you. And, and he, he's just an amazing actor. He cares so much about what he does. And he's such a lovely human being. And he's become a friend, which is like such a, a godsend, like became friends with John Voight. And, and, you know, I, I love, we love chatting with each other. And we talk about all kinds of different things, spirituality and life. I mean, the stories that this man has told me about his history of working with people and his friends, I'm so lucky to have worked with him. And the crazy thing is when we auditioned for that movie, it was in person, which is so rare right now. So you had to audition for this movie. Yeah. And he was in the room. Which was nuts. And Stephen Paul, great producer, was there. Fern Champion, the casting director. And Jessica Lord is another actress that was in the film who was fantastic. And it was so cool to do it in person. I mean, it had been a while since I had done that. And it was just great. Like old times, it was beautiful.
BJ: Did you say Kelsey Grammar too?
Jesse Kove: As you know, when you watch two titans of acting, when they're working off each other, you can't take your eyes off the monitor.
James: It's actually really amazing. I've talked about this a lot in podcasts that I've been on. But there's so many actors that the second they're actually on a monitor and on a camera, there's something that switches. Like, you know, when I was working with Christopher Lloyd early on in my career and I was like 21 at the time and he was in the scene before that, when I was talking to him, he was just hanging out on set and he just seemed like a normal, regular, older gentleman. And then he gets on camera and I was like, holy shit, that's Doc Brown. I just felt it. I was like, oh my god, that's Christopher Lloyd. But there's something like they have a switch and a sparkle that only the camera captures and it's just that magic and it's definitely mesmerizing. You can tell when you see them do their work what made them who they are. It's so cool to watch that. It's incredible.
BJ: I even remember that from the Tom Sizemore days where he would get on set and you would be like, whoa, dude. You would believe exactly what that name was delivering with no rehearsal whatsoever. Tom was a great actor. I worked with him a few times as well. Great actor. You're how I met him back in the day, back in the day-day with that. He was extraordinary.
James: I'm going to pivot outside of this real quick. You keep in shape a lot, obviously hitting the gym often, and I know you're a big supporter of peptides, so let's hear a little bit about that because that's something that's, I think, very unique that not a lot of people know about. Shout out to Kwon.
Jesse Kove: Oh, good. Yes, exactly. Gentle Giant Care. That's my buddy who I work with who does all my peptide stuff. I got into it recently because, you know, it was kind of becoming a thing. I was looking up. I was like, what are these? And I researched what they were. They're just like amino acids and just like little building blocks.
James: What are they exactly?
Jesse Kove: It's just amino acid profiles that basically... So it's different than like GLP-1s, stuff like that. It's like a... It's basically helping your body doing what it's already doing just faster. You're supplementing some of these recovery blends to help you, and they have them for everything. Yeah, it sometimes can feel weird because the best way to do it is injecting it, but you're like, oh, needles. Needles, it's weird. It is weird, but it's the best way to get them in your system, which is great. I put my body through so much, whether it's through stunts and all that.
James: So Jesse does his own stunts actually on a certain project. I don't know if I should say which one, but a mortar blew up and you... Oh yeah, yeah. It was just Call of Duty I was doing. Yeah, Call of Duty and it knocked him and completely scraped up this. So let's also
BJ: start with what Call of Duty project is it?
Jesse Kove: Modern Warfare 2.
James: What? Yeah, it was awesome. There's a playable character in it.
Jesse Kove: Yeah, you can play me, I'm Hammer. And so this is when they started doing the live action commercials with the characters instead of just the video game characters. The actual actors playing those characters are great guys. And yeah, one of the stunts they had was a pyro explosion like went off in my face. It was crazy.
James: And you were wearing, he was wearing like goggles and that's like what saved him. He was like lucky that he was wearing the goggles.
Jesse Kove: Did it hurt you at all? I mean I had little pieces of cork and little rock in my face. He went
James: to a monster truck rally with me right after and was just sitting there like zonked out.
Jesse Kove: Kind of a badge of honor. He definitely looked the part at that point.
James: You were a little shell-shocked. Gravedigger.
Jesse Kove: Yeah, it's just my buddy Aaron Switzer, he was with me on that product. He's a great dude. We love shooting the shit together. He's a tough guy, too. And so he was just like, oh, dude, badge of honor, war wound, war scar. And I was like, yeah, yeah. So it was it was well. But yes, I do enjoy doing my own stunts. I want audiences to see a movie that I do be like, oh, that's that's Jesse. I think it makes you like enjoy what you're watching more like when you see a Tom Cruise movie like when we went to see Mission Impossible and you just loved it.
James: Yes, yes. I was so focused on the movie when we saw Mission. So Jesse takes me to go see Mission Impossible with him. I haven't seen any of them past Mission Impossible 3. So I had no clue what the story was. I'm sitting there in the theater. I told him I didn't want to go.
BJ: I told him I didn't want to go.
James: He's like, I bought you a ticket anyway, just come. And so I'm sitting there and like, I get a text message and I look down, which I shouldn't have done. I shouldn't be doing that in the theater. Jesse takes a picture of me doing that. He goes, he doesn't respect Tom Cruise. And so like, I was like, he made fun of me forever. But the funniest thing about that was not just That whole section, and me not really understanding what was going on in this last Mission Impossible movie, but I was the one they pulled when we leave the theater because we saw it opening day. They pulled me for the Rotten Tomatoes interview to tell them to say what I thought of the film. And I was the only one who had no clue what was going on.
BJ: Blasphemy. Because I've seen you, speaking of stunts, hanging out of a plane on that President Down movie. Yeah, that was super fun. Which was crazy. Did you film that at Air Hollywood?
Jesse Kove: I forgot the name of this place. It was one of those. It was like they had this crane inside this soundstage and they lifted me up. And what I didn't know is that you can't actually hang on that for more than like five, ten minutes because the blood circulation in your body gets all messed up because you're in like a harness all the time. It's cutting circulation off. So it's like bringing you down and get back up and like you're up and down all the time because you can't just be hanging like this.
BJ: That's crazy. Well, you've got the muscles for it and then the 360 back on that. Did, for the peptides, like, is that helping you just kind of keep?
Jesse Kove: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I cycle on and off of them, but for sure, like during that time, I actually had Kwon come to the set one of those days and he actually, he gave me an IV and all this stuff. Cause I mean, I was like doing all this fighting and physical activity and it was exhausting. And so, you know, I needed that, like pick me up to help me keep going rather than just coffee. And he was, he was so helpful in that. Kwon's been amazing. He actually, you know, and I can be honest with this because I think it's just good for men to hear this. Like, I didn't know because Kwon was like, oh, let's get your blood work done and do all this stuff. And like, I'm very physically active, you know, and I'm young. But my testosterone levels were like crazy low. And I also eat very healthy too. And I was like, how is that even possible? And you know, it just varies between people. It could be genetics as well. And Quan was like, well, let's help you- Could
James: be a lack of not sweeping the leg enough. Yeah, exactly. If you sweep the leg a little bit more often.
BJ: Because of you, I'm also like looking at my testosterone, which is actually low. It's not like under the level, but it's almost getting to that level. Mine was really low. Yeah. Didn't you say that like yours was lower than your dad's? Yeah. My dad was like way better than mine. Like, please sweep the leg. My dad's like testosterone is
Jesse Kove: like in the 1500s. But yeah, so Quan helped me get on a regiment to help boost that up, which has been great, and I feel so much better. And yeah, I think all men should go get their blood tests done and see where their levels are at. All men should get their blood tests done.
James: All men should wear tracksuits. These are things that you're learning from the podcast. This is how you become the ultimate man.
BJ: Today's my first day in a tracksuit.
James: How do you feel being your first day in a tracksuit?
BJ: Fuck, man. It's like being naked with an extra scan. Yeah, it's like having velvet pajamas that people think are cool looking. And when you've got to get on the bidet, you can just really like drop and go.
James: I don't judge most of my life decisions by the bidet. I do. I do. I do.
Jesse Kove: William DeMaio is going to love coming on this podcast because it'll just be in one of his daily tracksuits. He gave me one of his tracksuits.
James: He gave me one of his Brooklyn tracksuits. Those are awesome. The Graves Inn tracksuit.
Jesse Kove: Yeah, yeah, they're good. But yes, that stuff is very helpful, especially in this day and age. I think it's great for anti-aging and everything. And again, gentle giant care. He's based out of Atlanta, but he comes to LA like every month. So definitely look him up. He'll take good care of you. And also I just love health stuff. It's important. I feel like it's really good to like, obviously enjoy yourself in life, but I think it's important to be conscious of that.
BJ: Do you have like a fitness company or something that you're doing with? I see you working
Jesse Kove: out a lot. Yeah, so there's a company I work with called Form Performance. They do coaching for people to help get in shape and stuff. So they're based in England. They're awesome. Jesse Kove. Jesse Kove. Jesse Kove. Jesse Kove. Jesse Kove. Jesse Kove. Jesse Kove. Jesse Kove. Jesse Kove. Jesse Kove. Jesse Kove. Jesse Kove. Jesse Kove.
BJ: I was just telling James before you got here that you looked extraordinary in Complex Texas just in the photos. I wasn't on that set during that time.
James: And I said I wasn't either because that was second unit. So I wasn't there when they were shooting on the helicopter. It was a big day with helicopters.
BJ: I saw a helicopter situation and I was like, I should have also read the whole script for this movie because I did not.
James: I think we're learning BJ doesn't read the script. I read my parts. Welcome to Hollywood. Bullshit, bullshit, my line, bullshit, bullshit, my line, bullshit, bullshit.
BJ: Laugh, smile, die,
James: leave. Laugh, smile, die, leave. Fly back out. Yeah, he loves to just be in and out for the scene.
BJ: Yeah, I love it because James, it's also just being interested in being on sets with you where you are not the director. And then it's just trying to figure out whether or not James could get it done faster. So it's like, it's my favorite thing is to just fuck with James where James would be like, I could have had this scene done like 10 minutes ago. I'd already be done with this. So it's kind of funny when you're not directing. I was acting in that scene.
James: I was like, why am I in this scene?
BJ: Phenomenal. You and David Lawrence. I get to be in a scene with two of my great- And Panthro. And Panthro, who's amazing for that. But yes, in three movies with Jesse, but we have to be in a scene together.
Jesse Kove: I'm trying to get James into the Western I'm doing. We're in the middle of-
James: Oh, he's putting it on a podcast, so now it really has to happen.
Jesse Kove: We own the rights, so it's no big deal, but we're doing a prequel to... Not the rights thing, the hiring me thing. Oh, yeah. This is a verbal contract. It's already a done deal for me, so it's just other people that just, you know, whatever, want to dot the I's across the T's. But my dad and I are co-producing a prequel to Tombstone. It's when Doc Holliday and White Earp met. It's a great script. Yeah, it's a great script. I'm trying to be your huckleberry. Yeah, exactly. So I want James to direct the film and my dad does as well. So we're putting that together right now. It's been a really, really exciting process. James has been on the phone with a couple of the producers.
James: Yeah, it's really cool. It's a great script and I think it's a great part for Jesse, so I'm really excited to see.
BJ: My partner and I were just checking you out riding horses the other day. We were like, what can Jesse not do? At this point, look at him riding horses, working out, taking peptides. That's the thing, too.
Jesse Kove: Funny enough, I actually saw this...
James: Peptides make you a better horseback rider?
Jesse Kove: It could be, sure. Keeps that posture right.
James: There's an amino acid that makes you really good with horses.
Jesse Kove: I mean, it's important to know... I saw this... I think it was... Who was it that... Mia Goth, she put a thing the other day. She's like, I'll say anything to make sure I get the job, whether it's riding horses or whatever. And I was like, I feel like you shouldn't lie about not knowing how to ride a horse. It's not fair to the animals.
James: It's also very dangerous for you because if you don't know how to ride a horse, you could get kicked off of that horse pretty easily. Can't save a cowboy
BJ: either. I'm like a fat cowboy that doesn't need to get on any horse. I can pull the horse along.
James: On there, my scenes could be
BJ: beside the horse on things. I would do that. Keep me in mind.
James: So as somebody who's been in the industry for a very, very long time and started at such a young age, and you have done so much as an actor, what? What nuggets of advice do you have for actors trying to break in, especially now with the dynamics of what's going on in this world? Because you're also very active on social media. Is that something you think actors should push?
Jesse Kove: Yeah, I mean, we're always having to sell ourselves, right? I think that's an important aspect is to show... I feel like... Yes, even if you have the talent, it's not enough. You have to be seen, right? People need to see you. And nowadays, big companies, big studios, they're acquiring brands that come with actors. They're hiring big social media stars because they come with a brand, they come with a following. And that is just the reality of what it is now. I mean, even like David Chokicis on the new Baywatch, 70% of the cast are social media people that have big brands. You know, they want to pool that audience and that's fine. It's good for business.
James: But are there things that you've tried that haven't worked that you think people should avoid and things that you've tried that have worked?
Jesse Kove: Yeah, like the social media stuff. I feel like don't take it too seriously. Like just put stuff out there, you know, and be fine with it and just don't like don't Base your life off of someone else's social media stuff.
BJ: And overthinking, oh fuck with you. Should I post that? Should I not post that? Your time will come whenever that is.
Jesse Kove: It's like you don't have to be that person.
James: Well, I think authenticity is really important in this world at the moment. And I think being your authentic self, let your audience find you. Don't try and be somebody else. Be the first of you. Focus on who you are and be the best you you can be and don't mold yourself to other people's expectations.
Jesse Kove: I totally agree with you. It's very important. It's also hard because of social media trying to compare yourself. Of course I'm guilty. I'll compare myself to other actors that are out there that I'm like, oh, why aren't I there?
James: Does that drive you when you do
Jesse Kove: that? It's
James: both. You directed Glenn Powell before.
Jesse Kove: I have, back in the day.
James: He did a short film where he directed Glenn Powell. I feel like doesn't that kind of drive you to believe, like, wow, I can get there.
Jesse Kove: For sure. And Glenn's such a good guy. And I was at the premiere of his football show that he did, and we caught up for a minute. It was great. And he's such a great guy. I love what he's doing for the actual business. He's a big fan of wanting to get movies made and make good projects. Yeah, I see that. Like you said, it's like, look at where he's taking himself. But he's been doing it since he was a kid. I mean, he's been working hard since he was like nine.
James: Working in Jesse Kove's short film. That's right.
Jesse Kove: It's actually, you can look it up online. I think it's called The Audition. It was a spoof about the audition process and how silly it all is. And it was really, really fun. But yeah, you see all that and it is very inspiring. And you also learn stuff and you see what they're doing and how you can kind of change your game about certain things. But again, back to the advice stuff, I just think also don't take no for an answer. Just keep pushing yourself out there. You always gotta, as actors, we gotta have like, you know, the heart of a lion and the skin of a rhino, you know, because you're gonna get rejected all the time. Great quote. Yeah, you will, you are going to get rejected. It's just part of what it is, but that's not a bad thing. You can just learn from it.
James: You get a hundred no's, but all you need is one yes.
Jesse Kove: Exactly.
James: That's one thing. And also, I think it's important putting yourself out there and shooting shots that you wouldn't normally shoot, I think. And be vulnerable. Yeah, exactly. I mean, listen, I became friends with you because you DMed me on Instagram repeatedly telling me that we had mutual friends and we should become friends. And then I was ignoring your DMs. And you said, if you keep ignoring my DMs, I'm going to shave your beard off.
BJ: I thought that was funny.
James: So I was talking to David Lawrence and he was like, oh yeah, I'm going to Jesse Kove's house and I had not met you yet.
BJ: And I was like, oh, I'm gonna come with you.
James: I had never met you and I just showed up and he was like doing an audition for you and I met you at your house while you were filming a David Lawrence audition.
BJ: And I met you through him by crashing your birthday dinner with Jesse. We did a sushi dinner. Oh yeah, sushi dad. It was great.
Jesse Kove: It was so fun.
BJ: And I was like, Jesse is the nicest dude. By the end of the night, I was like, oh my God, I got to be friends with this dude. He's the nicest, sweetest guy. That was the pro
James: gong dinner where we just kept asking the sushi people to hit the gong because they had a gong. We were drinking a lot of sake and we just kept going dong.
BJ: And be like, are you pro-gong or no-gong? No-gong, pro-gong, pro-gong. We almost called this the pro-gong podcast.
James: Yeah, the gong show. We figured nobody would understand what the pro-gong was.
BJ: So we were like, Tracksuit would make way more sense for this. But to 360 Back, that's also where I met Josh Kelly. That same night. And my uncle was there too.
James: Oh my god, your uncle was a magician.
BJ: He was like, let me do card tricks. And I was like, oh my god, I love magicians. It was my birthday.
James: I was quite inebriated that night. And my uncle chose that night to hand me a ring that was my grandfather's and say, this was your grandpa's ring. He would want you to have it. And within 20 minutes, I drunkenly lost that ring. Oh my god, no. Within 20 minutes, I'm wearing a tracksuit. Things don't stay in the pockets. I was like, it's gone. You see this ring? You see this watch? But I found it. You see this ring? You see this watch? I kept it on my ass for 20 years. Yeah.
BJ: Dude, that's great. Josh Kelly... That was a Pulp Fiction reference, guys. Josh Kelly on the set of The Workout, I was having a really hard time trying to get these lines right at the same point in time as all the camera moves had to hit the exact points around the deal. And one of Josh's best advice that I've tried to keep to this day was Josh was like, you should just write out your lines, like write them out, like go on a piece of paper and write them out. And Josh is absolutely unbelievable because I would imagine you have to learn so many lines so fast for the soap operas because it moves so fast on that. What advice do you have for actors to like learn lines, auditions, those type of things?
Jesse Kove: Yeah, Heath Ledger did that. He wrote his Joker journal. He wrote his lines out in his journal he had. For me, it's stuff like that, repetition. I'll record the other person's lines and then I'll play it back. So I'm basically out loud acting the scene so I can get it down and then I'll get in there and So that's always helpful for me. Working with someone else is always great.
James: Unfortunately, time flies and we are at the end of our podcast. We'll have to have you come back. There's so much more to talk about. Where can people find you? Are there any upcoming projects you want to plug or anything like that before we sign off?
Jesse Kove: There's so much. There's The Last Firefighter coming out, Boris is Dead, and those are the ones I'm most excited about now. There's also Tennessee Ride Along, Action Comedy I did in Toronto. Yeah, yeah, that looked fun. That was
James: with James Storm, right?
Jesse Kove: Yes, James Storm, the wrestler. We had a great time. Produced by Gary Wheeler and Brainstorm up in Canada. They're awesome.
James: Oh, Gary Wheeler's the one who does the Blue Ridge show. Yes. Very cool.
Jesse Kove: Brought me to that. There's a lot. There's like four other projects I'm not mentioning. All for Love coming out, I think, in December. But yeah, you can follow me on all my platforms at jessekove, J-E-S-S-E-K-O-V-E, and I'm very active on there. We'll drop that down. And Wings of Rescue. Go to wingsofrescue.org and donate there.
James: Yes, Josias Kove signing off. All right, guys, thank you so much for coming on to the podcast and it was a pleasure having you, bud. Awesome.
BJ: Thank you guys. Thank you so much, Jesse. Love you guys. And that was the Tracksuit podcast episode one. Thank you, Jesse Kove, for coming on and we hope you all spread the love and we'll see you next time.
James: Save some dogs.