Episode 323: Jon Cryer, Part 1 | The Facts of Life, Pretty and Pink and Annie Potts

Susan and Sharon are thrilled to welcome director, writer and actor Jon Cryer to 80s TV Ladies! Jon Cryer is an Emmy-winning film and television icon, known for starring as “Duckie” in the 1986 John Hughes teen classic Pretty in Pink -- and then going on to star in all twelve seasons of Chuck Lorre’s long-running, award-winning sitcom, Two and A Half Men.
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The Conversation

  • Susan and Sharon share the crazy story of how they met Jon Cryer and got him on the show!
  • BEING AN ACTOR IS CRAP: First day, first film, Jon is 20 years-old -- and Robert Altman is throwing fake bird shit all over him. That’s showbiz!
  • THE FACTS OF LIFE: Jon was a huge fan of the show -- and then got to work with 8TL alum director Assad Kelada on Two and A Half Men!
  • ACTING FOR TOOTIE: Jon just worked with Kim Fields -- she was his director!
  • No Apology Necessary: Demi Moore recently apologized to Jon in her autobiography Inside Out for not being more sensitive when she “took his virginity” while shooting No Small Affair. But it turns out he wasn’t a virgin: “I just seemed like one.”
  • On opening day of No Small Affair, Jon snuck into a theater just in time to see himself take off his shirt on screen -- and hear someone yell: “Where’s the beef?”
  • When Jon met Andrew McCarthy and Molly Ringwald on the Pretty in Pink set, he thought they didn’t like him. Turns out he was only half-right.
  • The original ending of Pretty in Pink has Molly Ringwald’s Andie politely shutting down Andrew McCarthy’s Blane, and dancing in solidarity with Cryer’s Duckie (to Davie Bowie’s Heroes) -- but test audiences HATED it! So, the ending was changed making sure that Andie ended up with cute and sensitive, rich-boy, Blane.
  • GETTING MOSHED: While filming Dudes, Penelope Spheeris had Jon and castmate Dan Roebuck thrown into the mosh pit at a Vandals concert -- and they barely lived to tell about it!

So, join Susan and Sharon -- and Jon -- as they talk Morgan Freeman, Escape From Alcatraz, Richard Gere, Wonder Woman, Al Pacino, Cher, Annie Potts, Mark Hamill, The Bad News Bears -- and getting naked for laughs on Two And A Half Men!

Our Audio-ography

Listen to Suzanne Rico’s podcast The Man Who Calculated Death (produced by Jon Cryer and Lisa Joyner) at TheManWhoCalculatedDeath.com

And Jon's other podcast, Lawyers, Gun & Money at Apple

Watch all 12 seasons of Two And A Half Men on Peacock.

Watch Jon Cryer as Lex Luthor on Supergirl on Apple or on Netflix.

Buy Jon Cryer’s autobiography, So That Happened at Bookshop.org.

Or Listen to So That Happened on Spotify or Audible

Arts Funding is under attack in this country. Find out how to support the arts, locally and nationally at  https://www.artsforla.org/

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CREDITS

Credits: 80s TV Ladies™ Episode 323.

 

Produced by 134 West and Susan Lambert Hatem. Hosted by Susan Lambert Hatem and Sharon Johnson. Guest: Jon Cryer. Sound Engineer and Editor: Kevin Ducey. Producers: Melissa Roth, Sharon Johnson, Richard Hatem. Associate Producers: Sergio Perez, Sailor Franklin. Music by Amy Engelhardt. Copyright 2025 134 West, LLC and Susan Lambert. All Rights Reserved.

Transcription